Rurouni Soujiro
by Evee-chan
Summary: What happened went Soujiro became a rurouni? Well, this is what I think...mysteries, traveling, new friends, theft, Yakuza and probably getting a first taste of love. My first story! Hope you like it! CHAPTER 6 IS FINALLY UP!
1. Crossing the Path of the Cat Girl

**Declaimer:** I do not own Soujiro (though, I wish I did).

* * *

**Rurouni Soujiro** – starring Seta Soujiro 

Chapter 1: _Crossing the Path of the Cat Girl: The Journey Begins_

By Yvonne

_Italic words_ meant someone's thinking

It was a warm afternoon as the breeze blew on the dusty, deserted road. No-one but a young travel worn boy walked on the lonesome road. The boy wore a blue gi with a white collar shirt, a dark blue hakama and greyish-green arm guards. His white tabi and laced sandals both looked a bit worn out as he walked peacefully along the road. He let the warm breeze run gently through his dark black hair showing his young face with bottomless sapphire eyes and a benign smile. He kept a katana trusted through his obi, even though carrying swords were banned.

This boy is Seta Soujiro, also known as the Tenken, the smiling emotionless boy and former assassin for Shishio, who was once the notorious leader of the Jupongatana group and wanted to take over Japan. After the entire plan failed, Soujiro, with a few possession, left Kyoto to become a rurouni and to find his emotions and own path in life.

Soujiro had travelled for a month now, since the day he left Kyoto. He had stopped at a lot of places and towns and had very little money with him. But even though he had to battle through the consequences of being a rurouni, he still kept a smile where ever he went. Even at the age of 18; Soujiro knew that he had a lot of responsibilities.

His katana was often the reason why some people kept away from him. It was the Meji Era and swords were banned at this time, but that didn't worry him; in actually fact it was only his Kikuichi Norimune sword that was broken from his battle with the Battousai. He couldn't let go of it, he couldn't just simply stop using a sword even though he was trying to start his life over again. He couldn't use it to fight anyway, but it still gave him a sense of security… and it was the only thing he had left.

Soujiro noticed that it was getting darker by the minute and he still hasn't spotted any sign of a town.

He sighed. "Looks like I'll be spending another night in the forest."

A month of being a rurouni has taught him a lot of things. Food wasn't too much of a problem, he was very good at hunting animals and it also helped keep him in practise with his Shukuchi. Though animals have better defenses than most men, he had been forced to develop a few new techniques to take birds out of the air with his broken katana; he had a lot of time on his hands, and had no intention of getting rusty.

Soujiro shrugged his shoulder before walking into the forest and preparing to camp for the night.

* * *

He backed away from the cloaked figure until his back touched the wall. The figure continued walking until it was about 3 feet away from him. Sweat was rolling down his face as he knew there was no way out, his katana laid next in the figure in front of him. 

"W-what do you want!" he shuttered.

The figure smirked and removed its cloak to show a young girl. Shadows covered her face but it was easy to tell that the figure was female.

The girl picked up his katana and examined it, making the moon light reflect on it. "Nice katana you had there, Ginjo-san. How did you get it?"

Ginjo's eyes widened at the sound of his name. _H-how did she know my name?_

"I-I won it." He said shakily.

"Who was its former owner?"

"Akiyama Itou…h-he's a collector who collects the rarest items in Nagoya."

"Ah, Akiyama Itou, I've heard of him."

The girl faced him directly. "Tell me Ginjo-san, Akiyama Itou owns a katana called Nihon, is that true?"

Ginjo's eyes yet again widened. He has heard Akiyama mention of a sword called Nihon. A magnificent sword that glitters with divine brilliance, he says and Ginjo remembered it well.

He nodded. "H-hai, that's true."

The girl smirked and laid his katana in front of him. "Arigato Ginjo-san, that's all I came for." She then left without saying another word.

Now Ginjo knew that his pride was crushed. How this girl no older than16 had been able to defeat him, he didn't know. Had he knew that the figure that attacked him was a mere girl, he wouldn't have payed her any mind, and that would have been his biggest mistake.

* * *

"Hmmm, it looks like I arrived at Nagoya." Soujiro said reading a sign with the kanji 'Nagoya" on it. 

Apparently, his camp was only an hour's walk away from Nagoya, so it was still early when Soujiro arrived at the city.

"I wonder what I should do in Nagoya." Soujiro mused as he entered the city. Suddenly, his stomach rumbled, telling him that he hasn't eaten breakfast yet.

Soujiro sweat dropped and smiled nervously at his stomach, "I guess I could go find a restaurant that serves breakfast."

Soujiro began walking again. _Nagoya is a fairly big city._ Soujiro mused. The city looked clean and well built. Soujiro saw a couple of kids playing on the streets and hoped that they were having a happy childhood. He noticed a few shops were opened and people slowly began to start their daily routine.

It took Soujiro about 15 minutes before he found a restaurant. It was a simple but pleasant restaurant and only a few people sat at the tables eating their breakfast. Soujiro found an empty table for one and ordered a light breakfast for himself. He ate his meal slowly, enjoying its delicious taste. However, that didn't last for long when Soujiro saw four policemen enter the restaurant and sat down three tables away from he's.

Soujiro lowered his head, keeping his attention on his simple meal of rice and fish. He wasn't scared of the police, but even he knew better than to mess with them. He needed to keep a low profile, so it was better not to strike any attention. He quickly finished his breakfast and paid for his bill. Then casually began to walk out of the restaurant...

"Boy, stop right were you are!" …only to be stopped. _So much for trying to keep a low profile._

"Don't you know that swords are banned now, how dare you walk around with a sword in the Meiji Era!" the police yelled at him.

"Ara?" Soujiro faced them with eyes as big as china plates. _Oh yeah, the sword ban._

"Don't you 'Ara' us! You're under arrest for...HEY, GET BACK HERE!"

Soujiro ran out of the restaurant as fast as he could, without using Shukuchi. The policemen fumed and ran after the boy carrying a sword.

Soujiro ran through the streets with the police on his trail. Of course, he could have easily outrun them, but he thought it was better to not reveal too much. So Soujiro just kept running until the police would get tired.

After half an hour Soujiro was still running away from the police.

"Ara, don't these people ever get tired." Soujiro said to himself. He looked back at the four policemen he was running away from and saw that they were running a little way off, but still chasing him.

Suddenly, Soujiro saw at the corner of his eye that someone, like him, was running as well. He acted a little too late, they both collided into each other, both dropping their katanas. They both fell in the ground and were on there feet in three seconds. During those three seconds though, Soujiro got a good look at the person he crashed into.

It was a girl, no older than16. Her long black hair was tied in two buns, with pigtails flowing out on the side, fastened with pink ribbons. She wore a pink and red ninja outfit with a sakura tree printed on it. She also wore a tight dark purple T-shirt underneath, matching colour tight shorts that cover her thighs and red fingerless gloves on her hands. She wore white tabi with laced sandals. Her eyes, Soujiro noticed, were the most beautiful violet colour he has ever seen.

When Soujiro was on his feet again he heard the police still running and yelling him to stop. He also noticed the two identical katanas that lay on the ground in front of him. _Crap! Which one is mine?_

"GET BACK HERE YOU LAW BREAKING FOOL!" Soujiro could hear the police coming, so he quickly picked up the sword closest to him, as did the girl, and both started to run again.

Soujiro looked back and saw the police chasing him. He couldn't see the girl, who probably ran away also. But suddenly, Soujiro saw another group of men running from another direction and pretty soon the same thing happened; only it wasn't him. The group of men and the police ran into each other.

That gave Soujiro the chance to hide in an alley and escape the police. He waited until the police pasted the alley and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Finally, and I thought they would never stop chasing me." Soujiro sighed.

It was that moment that Soujiro noticed something was wrong. His katana didn't feel right, it wasn't the familiar weight and balance it use to be. Quickly, Soujiro pulled the katana out of its sheath and immediately regretted it. The blade shone brightly in his eyes, even in the shadows.

At once, Soujiro knew that this was -definitely- not his katana. He thought back to when he met head-on into that girl in ninja outfit and remembered that they both dropped their swords. _I must have accidentally taken the wrong katana. This sword must belong to that girl._

Soujiro, despite the bright light, had a closer inspection on the blade. It was definitely a beautifully made katana. Its sharpness is excellent, made from a very strong mental and was very well balanced. The katana was, for a lack of better words…perfect. Soujiro then spotted small writing on the blade closest to the handle.

"Nihon." He read out. _Nihon? It's probably the name of the katana._

He was impressed, how had that girl obtained such a weapon was a mystery. _Then again she could have stolen it._ Soujiro thought. Then he remembered what Yumi told him when he was still with Shishio.

"_If you find anything that belongs to someone else, you must give it back." Yumi lectured._

"_Naze?" Soujiro asked._

"_It's because it doesn't belong to you, if you took something that belongs to someone else that means you're stealing. Also, never take something from a girl. That would be rude."_

_Soujiro smiled. "Ok."_

Soujiro looked at the katana once more and sheathed it. "I better find that girl and give it back to her."

* * *

Meanwhile, -the girl- also discoverers that she took the wrong katana… 

After losing the group of men, the girl ran down the streets and went through the back door of a restaurant called 'Sakura Numa'.

The restaurant looked like it was going through good business. It was well decorated and clean. The girl went into the kitchen and was hit with a delicious scent in the room. A few workers were cooking food and one was cleaning dishes.

Suddenly, the woman cleaning dishes spotted her at the door and smiled.

"Welcome home, Kira. Did you get the Nihon?" the woman asked warmly. She wore a light purple worker's uniform with a white apron.

The girl named Kira smiled back. "Hai, I did. Would you know where Kisho-san is?"

The woman nodded. "The old geezer should be in his room up stairs."

"Arigato Sachi!" Kira said before running up stairs to her grandpa's room.

Sprinting up the steps, the ninja quickly found her destination.

Without knocking she opened the door. "Kisho-san, I got the Nihon! Look!" She said excitedly, waving the katana in the air.

A short old man sat in the middle of the room. His head was bold, but he had long white eyebrows and a long white beard. He wore a grey kimono with a black sash around his waist. The old man looked up from his mediation and smiled. "Ah, Kira-chan, you got it. Come and let me see it."

Kira walked up to her grandpa and handed the katana to him. She sat down in front of the old man, waiting for a compliment like always. But the moment Kisho received the katana, his wrinkled face frown. Something wasn't right and Kira could tell from his face.

"Is something wrong, Kisho-san?"

The old geezer closed his eyes. "It feels…like a fish with legs."

Kira sweat dropped, it was typical of her grandpa to say something so weird. It always had a meaning, but she never understood it. "…Kisho-san?"

"It means it feels wrong. Kira-chan, I think you took the wrong katana. Take a look for yourself." Kisho said handing the katana back to her.

Kira took the katana and unsheathed it. Instead of the shining blade of the Nihon, she found a katana with a broken blade.

Kira's eyes nearly popped out of its sockets.

"As I predicted." Kisho said while stroking his long white beard.

"B-but, how could this have happened…" Then Kira remembered the time when she collided into that blue-clad boy.

She gasped. "I must have taken the wrong katana when I bumped into that boy…" Her eyes started to tear up. "…And now my father's Nihon is with him!"

Kisho blinked when he saw the tears in his granddaughter's eyes and patted her shoulder. "Maa maa Kira-chan, it's ok. You can just find the lad and asked for it back."

Kira's tears quickly disappeared and smiled. "You're right, I'll go find him now…"

"KKKKKIIIIIIIRRRRAAAAA!" A voice screeched through the calm room. Suddenly, a girl around 14 rudely burst into Kisho's room. She wore the same ninja outfit, but only in light green and blue. Her adorable honey-brown eyes were wide with excitement and her jet black hair was tied into two short pigtails like Kira, but without the buns. The cute little girl bounced around the room with joy.

"Kira, it's time for luuunncchh!" she sang.

"Hai hai, Kirei. I know, would you stop jumping so much?" Kira said trying to calm her cousin down.

Kirei immediately stopped jumping. "Sachi said it is time for lunch."

"Arigato Kirei-chan for informing us." Kisho calmly said, then turned to Kira. "Maybe you should crack the nuts before you go out to look for that lad, Kira-chan."

Kira blinked. "You mean eat, right?" Kisho nodded.

Kira smiled and nodded as well. "Come on Kirei, let's go eat lunch!"

* * *

Soujiro sighed. _Still no sign of that girl I bumped into._

The sun has set for darn and Soujiro still hasn't found the girl to give her katana back. He has been walking around Nagoya for nearly the whole day and it was starting to get late. But Soujiro decided to search a bit more. _Maybe I'll be lucky._ Soujiro thought.

Soujiro walked around the now dessert and dark streets, with the only light coming from street lamps and the moon. Shadows covered most of the city, but in a way, Soujiro was glad of the newfound darkness. He left safer in darkness than in daylight. He had been told that other mothers in Japan told their children that dark things lurked in the darkness. Soujiro had never had a real mother. He had killed his adoptive one. He guessed that made him one of those dark things.

Soujiro kept walking for an hour and there was still no sign of the girl. Soujiro sighed, he was about to give up when he suddenly heard the sound of metal on metal. Frantically, Soujiro searched for the source of the sound, running through the streets as he did.

When Soujiro reached at a bridge, he saw the source of the noise. A group of grown men cornered a girl to the rail. The girl was, Soujiro noticed, the girl he was looking for. The pink clothing she wore was unmistakable.

* * *

Kira cursed her bad luck. _How could this have happened?_ Kira wondered as she backed away from the five guards she was running away from earlier.

These five guards were the guards for Akiyama's mansion and rare collections. She had to admit, Akiyama wasn't a bad judge to have picked such men to guard his mansion. They were all muscular and tall. Each one held a katana and was smirking at her as she backed away again. There was no way out. _Darn my rotten luck!_

"We don't have time to play cat and mouse, now give us Akiyama-sama's katana." A guard said, threatening her.

Kira took out the weapon she kept on the side of her waist, it was a strange weapon; it had an almost flat, circular body that looks kind of like the sheath of a katana's, except it was twirled into a circle. And five sharp blade spikes stuck out around its sheath body. All together, it was about as wide as the length of your elbow to your hand.

"Why should I give you something that doesn't even belong to you?" Kira said dangerously.

The guards held their katanas defensively. "We don't care if it doesn't belong to us or Akiyama-sama. We're just doing what we are told to do, and that is giving the Nihon back to the boss!" And at that, all guards tried to swing their katanas at Kira.

But Kira was ready, before they could land a blow at her; she had jumped over the semicircle of men and landed as gracefully as a cat on the other rail of the bridge. The men turned around and charged at her again. Kira, yet again, jumped and landed directly behind them, then with her spike weapon, she slashed at the men's backs, drawing blood. Four guards fell in the ground in pain, but one guard was able to dodge the slash and reacted quickly. He reached out and grabbed Kira's neck and hailed her over the rushing waters below the bridge.

Kira held the arm that held her neck, she tried to struggle out but the grip got tighter, coursing her to choke from the lack of air.

The guard smirked. "What do you say kid? Give us the Nihon or drop dead into the river?" He was definitely enjoying himself.

Kira was having a hard time trying to breathing, let alone speak. But a calm voice spoke for her.

"I think you should let her go. It's rude for a grown man to hurt a young girl."

The guard faced the person who spoke and saw a smiling blue-clad boy.

"Mind your own business, boy, or else you'll be next."

The guard glared at the still smiling boy as he lowered his head so not to let anyone see his eyes, then…disappeared. The guard's eyes widen. _Where'd he go?_

Suddenly, he felt something hit his arm that held Kira and out of the corner of his eye saw a glimpse of blue.

Landing lightly, Soujiro carefully placed the girl in pink on the floor of the bridge. She was breathing heavily, breathing in as much air as possible. Soujiro faced the man, who was yet again glaring at him.

"If you don't want to get hurt, I suggest you leave." Soujiro said in a warning tone, despite his smile.

The man growled. "We will not leave! We still need to get the Nihon katana from that girl." Slowly, the fallen men began to recover from the cuts on their backs and stood up.

Soujiro placed his hand on the hilt of the Nihon katana… "You mean this?"…and pulled out the sword. The blade of the Nihon shone brightly in the night, even Soujiro was impressed.

The moment the guards saw the shining katana, their faces light up. "Hai, that's it, give it here, boy."

Soujiro's smile widened. "Iie, the Nihon belongs to this young lady next to me. You have no right to take it."

"I SAID GIVE IT HERE!" The man roared and all men charged again.

Soujiro also sprinted forwards. "Aoi Denkou Ryu; Meimei Moui Sen!"

He took down every single man with rapid swings, while trying not to kill them at the same time. _How does Himura-san do this? Not killing is so hard!_

It all ended in just 5 seconds and all men were unconscious. Soujiro would have to say that he was proud that not only did he not kill anybody, but that move was one of his own moves he invented on the spot. He had used it to stop a striking snake and has been practicing it ever since.

Soujiro held his hand out for the girl, who was still on the floor. "Daijobu desu ka?"

Kira slowly took in everything that just occurred so quickly. The blue-clad boy, who she bumped into this morning, saved her from choking to death and used the Nihon to defeat Akiyama's guards, _and quite effectively too._ Now, that very same boy was standing in front of her and offering his hand to help her up.

Kira hesitantly took the offering hand and was pulled to her feet. "D-daijobu, ano…"

The blue-clad boy smiled and handed the Nihon to her. "I'm Soujiro, Seta Soujiro. I believe this belongs to you."

Kira hugged her father's precious katana. "Hai, it's mine and my name is Kira, Kitamura Kira. Domo arigato gozaimasu Seta-san, for saving me." Kira bowed.

Soujiro smiled. "It's ok, Kira-dono. Ara…you -do- have my katana, right?"

Kira blinked and smiled sheepishly. "…Well, you see, before you came, those guards through it in the river."

_:THUD:_

Soujiro face faulted on the ground. _This can't be happening! Kami-sama, WHY?_

Kira raised an eyebrow. "It can't be that much of a lose. Why carry a sword that's broken?"

Soujiro stood up with a desperate face. "Why? It's my most precious possession!"

"You need to get yourself a new precious possession." Kira said flatly. She placed her weapon back at the side of her waist, turned around and started walking. "Come with me, I know how to repay you."

_:THUD:_

Soujiro face faulted on the ground for the second time that day.

* * *

Soujiro found himself in an old man's room with Kira and were both sitting facing Kisho.

Kisho was definitely old, but even in his elderly years he was a wise man. But it was his ki that unnerved Soujiro, he could sense a very powerful life force coming from the old man. Soujiro made aware that he was on his guard.

"Kira-chan, please make some tea for us, would you?" Kisho said calmly. Kira nodded and quickly went to prepare some tea. When Kira was out of hearing range, Kisho turned to Soujiro.

"I understand that you have saved my granddaughter, Seta-kun. Arigato." He bowed in gratitude.

Soujiro placed his hand on the back on his head. "Iie, no need to thank this one, I'm just a rurouni wondering around and…please address me as Soujiro."

The old man raised an eyebrow. "Hmmm, there aren't many rurounis around anymore, especially one as young as you. But I guess teenagers nowadays like a little adventure."

Soujiro's smile quivered a bit, but it was barely noticeable. _If only you knew the real reason._

Running foot-steps can be heard outside the room and soon Kira was at the door with a tray in hand, two tea cups sat on the tray. Kira put down the tray and sat next to Soujiro. Kisho nodded thanks and started to drink the tea.

"Kisho-san, now that we got father's Nihon back, what is the next sword on the list." Kira asked suddenly.

Soujiro glanced at Kira with a questioned look. "Next sword on the list?"

Kira nodded sadly. "Hai, my father used to be a famous sword smith but was killed in a fire, along with some of my relatives. I was the only one who survived. But apparently, the people who caused the fire knew my father and stole all his fine crafted swords. Not one sword was left. But that was all ten years age.

Kisho-san took me in and trained me to be a ninja with the rest of the Sakura Numa workers. We all try to uncover where my father's swords are so we can take it back."

Soujiro felt his stomach tighten and sadness fell over him. _Nani? What is this feeling I have?_ Being emotionless for ten years made Soujiro forget what most the emotions were. Soujiro took that as a sign that he was beginning to feel again. But he couldn't remember what this feeling was called.

Kisho nodded, "The next will be the Hiryuuken. For what I know, it's like finding a peanut in a herd of elephants. Hahahahaha!"Both Soujiro and Kira sweat dropped. Kisho continued, "Anyway, according to our research, the Hiryuuken is located in Osaka. Kira you'll have to go by yourself, the rest of us can't go because of business. But you must be careful."

Kira smiled, "Don't worry, Kisho-san. I'll come back with the Hiryuuken, no problem!"

"How about I come with you." Soujiro suggested. "I was planning on going there anyway. Maybe I can help."

Kira nodded, she liked that idea. "Yokatta, we'll leave tomorrow morning!"

Kisho nodded too. "Hai, you do that."

* * *

Leaving the old man in his room, Kira took Soujiro to a large room in the ceiling. In the room were katanas and kodachis hanging on the walls, some swords were displayed in glass cabinets, sets of every type of shuriken were displayed and some weapons even Soujiro haven't seen before were displayed. Soujiro was amazed; even Sword Collector, Sawagejou Chou, and Shishio didn't have that many fine weapons all put together.

"Here is the place were we store all the swords and weapons, father made." Kira said proudly. "Since you saved my life and gave back the Nihon to me, I'll award you with a sword or weapon of your choice. Just don't pick the ones in the glass cabinets."

Soujiro looked shocked, despite his ever-lasting smile. "Iie, I can't accept…"

"But of course you can, I need to replay you back the sword those bastards threw away. It was my fault that they did anyway." Kira said, waving her hand like saying 'go ahead'.

"Demo…"

"Are you saying that my father's swords are not good enough!" Kira fumed.

Soujiro held out his hands to admit defeat. "Iie, iie. I'll pick a sword." _I didn't know that she can be so scary._

Kira relaxed and Soujiro walked around the weapon-filled room.

There were definitely a LOT of weapons; Soujiro wondered how long it took Kira to search for all these weapons. Rows and rows of different weaponry were either hung or displayed on the floor, there were so many to choose from. There were katanas, kodachis, wakizashis, draggers, shurikens and other fancy weapons that Soujiro couldn't identify, but his favorite weapon would be the katana. Soujiro looked around for a suitable katana, but then he caught sight of a sword lying at a corner of the room. He didn't know why but he was drawn to it, Soujiro walked up to the abandoned sword and picked it up.

Soujiro unsheathe the sword a little and his eyes widened, the sword in his hands was a sakabato! It was finely made and very well balanced. Soujiro's smile widen, if it was possible, and he made up his mind.

"Kira-dono, I would like to take this." Soujiro said showing her the sword.

Kira looked surprised, "Eh? A sakabato? Why that?"

"Because I'm wandering without killing, if I use a normal katana, I'd bound to kill someone." Soujiro answered with his best smile.

Kira raised an eyebrow at that, but soon she shook her head, "Fine, if that's what you want then you can have it."

Soujiro smiled, "Hai."

After today, Soujiro had got a new sword and most importantly a new friend. Now seeing that he will be traveling with Kira for awhile and that he is actually traveling for a reason, that gave him a sense of responsibility. He doesn't know what or who would cross their path but he will be ready no matter what.

**Translations:**

Rurouni – a wanderer.

Shukuchi – Reduced Earth

Nihon – Japan (I know, it's kind of stupid to call a sword 'Japan'.)

Naze – why

Sakura Numa – Cherry Blossom Pond

Arigato – thank you

Aoi Denkou Ryu; Meimei Moui Sen - Blue Lightning Style; Dark Fury

Daijobu desu ka? – Are you ok?

Daijobu – I'm ok

Hiryuuken – Flying Dragon Blade

Sakabato – Reverse-blade Sword

* * *

There, this is my first story ever to be submitted. What you think? Good, bad? 

Please review!


	2. The Bumps of the Past

**Declaimer:** I do not own Soujiro (thought, I wish I did) or any other Rurouni Kenshin characters.

* * *

**Rurouni Soujiro** – starring Seta Soujiro  
Chapter 2: _The Bumps of the Past: Caught by the Wolf_

_Italic words_ meant someone's thinking

Early in the morning, both Soujiro and Kira woke up early for they journey to Osaka, but Kisho wouldn't let them go without eating breakfast first and making sure Kira was well packed for the trip. The Sakura Numa workers, however, were a bit insecure for the safety of their beloved Kira. Even when they heard about the incident that occurred last night, being ninjas, they don't trust people easily.

Kado, a Sakura Numa worker, had a tall, slim, athletic build and wore the restaurant's worker's uniform. He was quite protective of Kira, so he made a silent threat to Soujiro that if he didn't protect Kira that he would be after Soujiro's life. Hideaki, also a Sakura Numa worker, had a more muscular build. Like Kado, he was also distrustful of Soujiro, but he didn't speak about it. Seiko, another Sakura Numa worker, was Sachi's twin sister. She is the more outspoken of the two and demanded an explanation from Kisho why Kira had to travel with a complete stranger. Sachi would have to be the most credulous about the whole thing than the rest of the Sakura Numa workers. She believes that Kira would be able to take care of herself when things get tough.

You could say that Soujiro was having a hard time getting trust from the workers, but he couldn't really blame them, they had a right to worry.

Soon it was time to leave and both Soujiro and Kira were ready for the journey to Osaka.

"Take care Kira-chan, Soujiro-kun." Kisho said with a nod.

"Bye everybody! Bye Kisho!" Kira waved, "Don't worry; I'll come back with the Hiryuuken soon!"

"BYE KIRA! COME BACK SOON!" yelled Kirei, who was waving she arms like a wild monkey.

The rurouni smiled at the scene in front of him. He was happy for Kira that she had such a loving family. He had always wished to have a family like Kira's, and now, getting to witness such a caring environment, Soujiro was happy that Himura made him realized the truth.

Now they were traveling on the dusty road to Osaka, the weather was fine and sunny, and both were walking in silence. However, Kira felt uncomfortable in the silence and decided to break it.

"Hey Soujiro, um…it's a long walk from Nagoya to Osaka, so I've decided that we stop at Kyoto for supplies and then head to Osaka, ok?"

Soujiro stopped walking at the sound of Kyoto. Kira noticed this and stopped too. "Is there something wrong, Soujiro?"

An awkward smile was planted on his face. For a mouth, Soujiro had traveled away from Kyoto, away from Shishio, away from his past. Now, he was going back. _How ironic._ He started to chuckle at the thought.

Kira looked at the chuckling Soujiro and gave a confuse look. "What's so funny?"

Soujiro quickly calm down and looked at Kira. "Iie, it's ok, we can do that, Kira-dono. We'll stop at Kyoto, and then head to Osaka." Soujiro then continued walking, leaving a dumbfound Kira behind. _What a weird guy._

Snapping out of her shock, Kira ran to catch up with him.

* * *

A shadowy figure sat languidly on his leather arm chair, smoking a cigarette. He wore a dark blue police uniform with white gloves covering his hand. His face adopted amber wolf-like eyes that could scare even the most fearsome men away. He had high cheekbones and slick black hair that was combed smoothly to the back of his head, only a few strands of hair was left carelessly in front of his face. 

As languid as he was, he is also on guide for anything that could happen. His sharp hearing picked up soft running from outside of his office and immediately his amber eyes stared at the door as a police officer busted in to report.

"Captain Fujita! Someone has reported sights that the Tenken is now heading to Kyoto; he is accompanied with a ninja girl!"

The man called Fujita Goro is really Hajime Saitou, the former third division captain of the Shinsen-gumi. Fujita Goro was just a disguise, but only a few people know him as Hajime Saitou and very few knew about his past. Saitou, though working for the Meiji Government, still held the motto of the Shinsen-gumi, 'aku soku zan'.

"When will they be arriving?" Saitou asked after inhaling and exhaling his cigarette.

"In around three days, Captain." The police replied, trying to ignore the smell of cigarettes in the room.

Saitou smirked, "Alright, I'll deal with that personally, thank you for reporting officer."

The officer bowed and hastily walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Saitou yet again inhaled and exhaled his cigarette, before dropping it into the ash tray. The Mibu's wolf smirked again.

"So, the Tenken is back. Disappearing after the fall of the Jupongatana and now he is coming back. How very interesting…" Saitou's hand slid to his side to touch the hilt of his sword.

"…Tenken no Soujiro."

* * *

"Kyoto sure has a LOT of people!" Kira said staring at the endless sea of people walking around the large city. She saw women wearing beautiful traditional kimonos of many colours, there many people in western clothing too, but one thing was for sure, Kyoto was BIG. 

Soujiro nodded. "Kyoto is a big place." They have been travelling for a week and now they have made it to Kyoto, the place Soujiro have dreaded to see.

Moving around the crowd quickly, both Soujiro and Kira quickly blended in with the crowd and were looking for an inn to stay for the night. They soon found an inn and order for two rooms. Kira then insisted on going out to buy some supplies, but not knowing her way around the place, Soujiro come with her.

"The best thing about travelling is that you get to see new places and artifacts." Kira exclaimed happily. She went from store to store looking at all the different food, clothing and displays. At times she would stop to buy some things that she thought that they needed on their journey, but most of the time just looking around.

The blue-clad rurouni smiled at her enthusiasm and at times couldn't help but chuckle at her. Of course, the worry of being recognised was still bothering him. He knew that if he by any chance met up with the Oniwabanshu or the police, he would have to leave town as soon as possible. Not that he was scare of them, but he had promised Kisho that he would help Kira get the Hiryuuken back. Getting caught wouldn't help at all.

"Earth to Soujiro, are you still there!" Kira's voice shook him from his thoughts.

Soujiro blinked. "Ara?"

Kira shook her head. "You really should stop daydreaming like that, Soujiro."

Soujiro scratched the back of his head. "Gomen nasai Kira-dono, it just happens sometimes."

Kira shrugged her shoulders and turned to walk again. Soujiro was about to join her when suddenly, he felt a very strong ki that sent shivers up his spine. Soujiro's eyes darted to the shadows and caught sight of none other than Hajime Saitou. His eyes narrowed when he saw the Mibu's wolf smirk and quickly disappeared in the shadows.

He wasted no time; Soujiro quickly caught up with Kira and grabbed her arm. Kira was about to ask what was going on, but Soujiro quickly led her away to an empty ally.

"Soujiro, what's going on, why did you lead me here?" Kira asked.

"We're being followed." Soujiro exclaim. Kira's eyes widen.

"What should we do?" Soujiro didn't answer that, instead he took Kira's arm again and led her away again. They went from one ally to another, walked through the crowd a couple of times and went through more allies. The ninja had no idea where they were going so she followed Soujiro and wherever he was taking her.

Soon they were walking through a path that was too big for an ally, but was too small for a street and Soujiro suddenly stopped, moving Kira behind him.

"Tenken." Soujiro's eyes narrowed at the sound of his well known nickname, but his smile was still plastered on his face. His hand slowly drifts to the hilt of his new sakabato.

"Konnichiha Saitou-sanhajimemashite." Soujiro said pleasantly. Kira look over Soujiro's shoulder, being only half a head shorter then Soujiro, she was able to see the tall figure in front of them. _What's going on? Who is he?_

He seemed boney, but Kira knew that he was muscular under his dark blue police uniform. He held a lit cigarette and stood in a casual, but on guard pose. She noticed that his hand was also on the hilt his sword and if she knows swords as well as she does, the man's sword was not the usual western swords that most police uses. She could tell by its hilt that the sword was a Japanese katana.

Saitou smirked. "Don't worry; I'm only here for information, not a fight. That is, Tenken, if you cooperate."

Soujiro smiled pleasantly, waiting for Saitou to continue.

"I'm here for the whereabouts of Shishio's fortune. Since no-one has claimed it, the government has decided to take it for all the destructions that the Jupongatana has done. However, none of the Jupongatana members working for the government knows where the fortune is. Only two other members knows, one being dead and the other one is you, Tenken. And you will tell me where it is."

"Or else?" Soujiro's smile never faltered.

The Mibu's wolf smirked. "You are a wanted man, Tenken, I could and will arrest you. I could also lay it off, if you cooperate with me now."

Kira couldn't be patient anymore, she step away from Soujiro and faced Saitou. "How dare you talk to Soujiro like that! Just who do you think you are and why do you keep calling Soujiro, 'Tenken'?"

Saitou raised an eyebrow at the rurouni, "So you haven't told your little girlfriend yet, Tenken." Soujiro's bags covered his eyes.

"Haven't told me what?" Kira looked puzzled; she wanted to get to the bottom of this.

Saitou blew at his cigarette and began to explain. "Koneko, your boyfriend was once known as the Tenken, the assassin that killed hundreds of lives. He was also the right-hand man and apprentice of Makoto Shishio, an evil madman who tried to conquer Japan. But the point is that your boyfriend is a dangerous person."

Kira turned to Soujiro, who still had his bags concealing his eyes. "Is that true, Soujiro?"

"…Hai."

Kira was shocked, who would have known that such an innocent boy could be so dangerous. But then she remembered the time Soujiro saved her from choking to death and even handed her back the Nihon too.

Kira turned back to the Saitou. "You're wrong!" Both Saitou and Soujiro stared at her in shock. "Like you said, Soujiro -was- known as the Tenken and he -was- an assassin, but he isn't now. He has changed; he even told me he wouldn't kill anymore!"

The Mibu's wolf sniggered at the girl's stubbornness. "Koneko, what you said doesn't change the fact that your boyfriend is still a wanted man."

Soujiro sweat dropped and quickly held Kira back before she could pounce on to Saitou. "STOP calling me koneko and he's NOT my boyfriend, you arrogant bastard!"

Soujiro's sweat drop grew bigger. "Maa maa Kira-dono, calm down."

Saitou's face held amusement. "I can't help but think that you resemble a certain itachi I know."

"SAY WHAT!" Kira's face was burning with embarrassment and angry.

Saitou's face became serious again as did Soujiro's. "Alright back to business, so are you going to tell me where the fortune is?"

Soujiro slowly let go of Kira as she stopped struggling against him, she was looking at him, waiting for his answer. Soujiro thought it through. _There's no reason not to tell him. It's not like I'm going to keep it for myself anyway. So…_

Soujiro's hand reached to a pocket in his blue gi and took out a small folded white piece of paper. He then flung it to Saitou, who easily caught it and opened it to see a map.

"There's a cave at the bottom on Mt. Hiei, not too far from the Jupongatana headquarters. If there is a sign saying, 'danger' near the entrance, then you are at the right place. That map will take you to Shishio's fortune, but follow the map carefully or you might be stuck there."

Saitou smirked as he dropped his cigarette and crashed it with his foot. Then he turned to leave. "Be grateful that I left you with so many choices, Tenken. You are lucky this time I only came for Shishio's fortune and not your head." With that, the Mibu's wolf left without another word.

Kira's hand was itching to grab her weapon and shove it into Saitou's guts, but Soujiro reassured her that it was ok and that to let it go. Kira relaxed a bit, but she still glared at Saitou's back as he walked away.

* * *

As the morning progresses, Kira and Soujiro both woke up early and had breakfast before leaving Kyoto to Osaka. The incident that happened yesterday was still fresh in their minds, especially Soujiro, who have been quite nervous about how Kira thought of him now. She had defended him, which surprised him significantly and the fact that she isn't scared of him even when she knew he was the Tenken, also surprised him too. 

Both Kira and Soujiro were now traveling on the road to Osaka; it wasn't a long walk, it'd take about a day or two if they moved quickly. Then there was the matter of finding the Hiryuuken.

"Ara, Kira-dono, it really doesn't frighten you that you are traveling with an assassin?" Soujiro asked nervously.

Kira looked at him with a smile. "Iie. Even though you're the Tenken I know that you've changed. Like you said before, you wanted a sakabato so you can't kill anymore. If you haven't changed, then I'm sure you wouldn't have chosen a sakabato, right?"

Soujiro smiled and nodded. "Hai, I guess that makes sense. So we can still be friends right?"

Kira laughed wholeheartedly. "Of course you baka, why wouldn't we?" Soujiro laughed with her, it felt so good to be accepted, to have someone understand him.

"Promise that we'll always stay friends?" Kira said holding out her little finger.

Soujiro smiled and his little finger crossed with her's. "It's a promise."

From then on Soujiro and Kira were officially friends. For Soujiro, it was the first time in ten years that he smiled a genuine smile and the first time he had a real friend. As both friends travel to Osaka, Soujiro will always remember this day.

* * *

Osaka wasn't as big as Kyoto or Nagoya, but both Soujiro and Kira were relieved to have finally made it to Osaka. Osaka being well known for its trades was definitely a beautiful place with many rare artifacts, which makes finding the Hiryuuken much harder. 

Kira sighed. "Soujiro, how about we find a place to stay while we're here, it would take awhile before we find the Hiryuuken, and maybe stop for lunch as well."

Soujiro nodded. "Hai, that would be a good idea."

It didn't take long for the two friends to locate an inn to stay and soon they were having lunch in a restaurant, happily eating their delicious meal. Of course, their attention wasn't utterly on just their meal. They also had their ears open for any clues to the Hiryuuken's whereabouts.

The restaurant they were in was packed with customers and lots of conversations. Not all of them were exceptionally appealing, but there was defiantly plenty of it.

"Are you sure?" "Of course, you should get her before anyone else does." "But what if she doesn't like …"

"How about this, I'll give you half and I'll take half." "But you're a family of 6, you should defiantly take more." "No, I'm fine …"

"Oh! Yuki would love that for her birthday!" "Do you think I should make the sleeves a bit longer?" "Yeah, oh and she would love …"

"Hey Keitaro-san, I heard ya brother gotta new sword from ya uncle." Both Soujiro and Kira perked up and stole a glance at the two men opposite to their booth.

There was a man in a deep green gi and dark brown hakama. His long black hair was tied in a high ponytail, but if you look closely you see that a strip of his hair was dyed white. The other man wore a grayish-blue kimono with a navy blue sash and his black hair was cut short with bags on the side of his face.

"Yeah, he did, but he wouldn't let me see the sword." said the man with long hair, "But he did say that it was like a work of art, absolutely brilliant!"

"Wow, sounds like quite a catch." said the second man, though his tone didn't sound as excited.

"It's not just any sword you'd fine landing around, you know. My brother said it was the Hiryuuken, made by the famous sword smith, Kitamura Kishiro!" Kira's eyes widened at the sound of her father's name.

"So where does he keep this sword?" Both Soujiro and Kira listened carefully for the next part.

"He keeps it in the…"

_:CRASH:_

Kira and Soujiro both looked up to where they heard the crash as did all the customers. There were a few drunken men and one of them was pulling a panicking waitress in for a kiss.

"No…please!" the waitress plead.

"What's the matter, can't cha 'ave a couple o' drinks with us?" the man slurred.

"Damn drunken bastards." Kira whispered, gripping her weapon. Soujiro also grabbed his.

A man in the booth next to the drunken men also noticed the commotion, his eyes narrowed as he observed the scene.

"P-please let go of me."

"Come on, why don't cha come 'ave some fun with us?" The other drunken men laughed.

Kira couldn't bear it anymore and she was out of her set before Soujiro could stop her. "Hey you bastard, she said let go of her!" Kira quickly aimed a kick in the drunk's head. It surprised him so much he released the waitress' arm, who quickly ran to hide near the other waitresses.

Kira stood in front of the drunken man for she wasn't finished with him yet. The drunk roared at her. "YOU WRETCHED GIRL!" He stood up and tried to aim a punch, but Kira quickly grabbed his fist and arm locked him. The man yelped in pain.

"You bastards better leave this place before you do anymore damage." Kira warned.

Unfortunately, her back was facing the other drunks and one snuck up behind her ready to strike her with a dagger. "Damn you girl!"

"Kira-dono, behind you!" Soujiro yelled a warning. Kira looked behind and saw the dagger falling on to her.

_:CLING:_

The second drunk squeaked as his dagger flew out of his hand and pitched itself into the wooden floor. He looked to the side and saw a man with a large sword, the man who was sitting in the booth next to them.

"Now, what kind of men are you to harm a girl like that?"

The man wore a black with yellow lining tight sleeveless shirt with a high collar, brown baggy pants and a darker brown boots. He also wore deep red fingerless gloves. He had bags that spikes on the side of his face and had dark brown shoulder-length hair which was tied in a low ponytail. The man was tall and had a muscular built, the tight shirt he wore made it evident and his eyes were a light shade of brown.

The man's face held a smirk. "If you want to pick a fight, you should do it on someone your own size."

"Are you challenging us!" the drunken man dared.

The man rested his large sword on his shoulder. "Why not, I could use a workout from you drunks."

The man Kira held an arm lock on released himself and roughly tossed Kira away, causing her to fall back. Luckily, Soujiro caught her just in time before she fell on the hard wooden floor. "Daijobu desu ka, Kira-dono?" Soujiro asked worriedly.

Kira nodded.

"How dare you insult us like that!" bellowed the first man, he didn't sound very drunk anymore. "If you want a fight then you've got yourself one!"

The man yet again smirked. "Alright, let's take this outside."

Outside of the restaurant there was a huge crowd formed round the drunken men and the man with the large sword. Both Soujiro and Kira watched as the fight between the man and the 5 drunken men began.

"Hey, it's unfair to fight five against one!" Kira complained. Soujiro didn't say anything.

The first drunk cracked his knocks. "Are you sure you want to fight ALL of us?"

"I could take you all on in one blow, even without my weapon." shrugged the man, dropping his sword.

The man's tough-talk and calmness angered the drunken men. "WHY YOU! You'll be sorry you ever messed with us!" With that all the men charged at him.

Both Soujiro and Kira watched in amazement as the man grab a hold of one of the men's aiming fist and swung him around, using him to collide into all the rest of the drunks causing them all to fall to the ground in pain. And the fight was over in just 5 seconds.

Everyone was all astonished at how the man took down all the drunks and started to cheer for him and soon began to deform. The man didn't take much notice of the crowd though; he picked up his sword and rested it on his shoulder again.

"Man, you guys bore me. Pay your bills and leave this place, got it?"

He spotted Kira and walked up to her.

"Hey, you alright miss?"

Kira nodded. "I'm ok. But it was amazing how you took on all those drunks; you must be a pretty good fighter."

The man chuckled. "I don't mean to brag, but I am a good fighter around here."

He then turned to Soujiro next to Kira. "-You- better look after her properly." he said as he gives Soujiro a light nudge.

"Hai, I'll be more careful next time." Soujiro gave a nervous laugh.

"What are your names, anyway?"

"Watashi wa Seta Soujiro desu and this is Kitamura Kira." he gestured to the ninja.

"I'm Ichida Ryuji." Ryuji's thumb pointed to himself. He then turned to walk away. "It's been nice meeting you guys." Ryuji waved. "If there's a chance, we might meet again."

Kira also waved. "Bye!" Then suddenly Kira gasped.

"What's worry, Kira-dono?" Soujiro questioned.

"Oh no! I think those guys are gone!" Kira quickly dashed back into the restaurant and saw that she was right. The two men they were eavesdropping were gone and she couldn't see them anywhere outside of the restaurant either. Kira gave a sad sigh and hunched her back in defeat.

"Don't worry, Kira-dono. We'll find them again." Soujiro reassured her, reminding her that he was still there to help.

The ninja girl straightened her back and held a determined face. "Alright, let's find them tomorrow and get back the Hiryuuken!"

Soujiro nodded. "Hai, that's the spirit!"

**Translations:**

Tenken – Heavenly Sword

Aku Soku Zan – Kill Evil Immediately

Gomen nasai – Sorry

Hajimemashite – Nice to meet you

Koneko – Kitten

Maa maa – Now, now

Itachi – Weasel

Watashi wa Seta Soujiro desu – My name is Seta Soujiro

* * *

So how do you like this chapter? Is it worth continuing? Please tell me in a review. I hope I described Saitou right in the story. He has always struck me as cold person. I thought Saitou giving Kira the nickname 'Koneko' wouldreally add to his personality, seeing as in Rurouni Kenshin he calls Kaoru 'Raccoon girl', Misao 'Weasel girl' and etc. 

Will Kira ever find the Hiryuuken? Who is this Ichida Ryuji? All this in the next chapter.

Like I said before, please review!


	3. Ryuji the Bounty Hunter

AN: Hello everyone! I have finally updated the third chapter! Sorry for the long wait, but I had writer's block, not to mention all the homework and assignments I had to do!  
Disclaimer: I don't own Soujiro or any other RK character, but luckily I do own all the other characters!

**Rurouni Soujiro** – starring Seta Soujiro

Chapter 3: _Ryuji the Bounty Hunter: Finding the Hiryuuken_

By Evee-chan

_Italic words_ meant someone's thinking

Ryuji casually walked into a sake bar, his sword resting on his shoulder was carefully covered in brown cloth. A sake bar wasn't his most favorite place to hang out, he'd prefer some place more quiet. However, he wasn't going in to drink himself stupid, not this time anyway. He was there is see a client.

Ryuji's eyes scanned the dim-lit sake bar carefully. The customers were all drinking and laughing, didn't take any notice of him. Not finding who he was looking for, he smirked. His client was later. He seated himself on a table and ordered sake. It looks like he was going to have to wait. _Apparently, people these days aren't made to be on time._

Five minutes later, a shady cloaked figure walked into the bar. Ryuji eyed the figure as it made its way towards his table and sat in front on him. The figure then pulled back its hood to show a man that was probably in his forties. He had dark brown eyes and short black hair, resembling a typical Japanese man.

"Ichida Ryuji, the most feared bounty hunter." the man said with much respect.

"You're late."

"Gomen nasai, I was…held up." The man said uneasily. "But let's get to the point. I need you to capture a certain boy. Dead or alive it doesn't matter."

Ryuji studied the man, he seemed desperate. "Who is this boy? I hope this is a person worth capturing."

At this the man smirked. "I assure you that you'll defiantly enjoy it." Then he eyes burned with rage. "Have you even heard of the infamous assassin, Tenken no Soujiro? He is said to be even deadlier than the Battousai, he's cold smile may look innocent but he is murderous! He has a heart of stone and eyes colder than ice."

Ryuji continued to stare at the man, unaffected by his description of his soon-to-be victim. Yes, he had heard of the smiling assassin, the Tenken, but he never pay very much attention on such people, unless he was told to either kill or capture them.

The man continued, rage still clear in his eyes. "I have a huge grudge against him because he killed my brother and his family. I loved them dearly, until that bastard killed them and now I want revenge!" The man quickly calmed himself before he pulled out a file and a wanted poster.

"There is some information about the Tenken; it should prove useful for you. The wanted poster shows you what he looks like; it'll save me from describing him. Of course, if you capture him, the reward will be great, I assure you." The man said calmly.

Ryuji raised an eyebrow at the man and looked down at the picture on the wanted poster. He's eyes widened slightly at the smiling boy on the picture. It was, he realized, the boy he meet at the restaurant with the girl he saved, Seta Soujiro. It surprised him to see that such an innocent-looking boy could be such a dangerous person. He had to admit that he didn't sense any bad ki coming from him, nor any ki at all. Somehow, the kid was able to suppress them very well, which suggests a very strong swordsman, maybe even stronger than him.

Ryuji smirked at the thought. _This is going to be interesting. I wonder how strong the Tenken really is._

Ryuji placed some coins on the table for the waiter and stood up to leave. "Alright, just leave this to me." He grabbed the poster, file and his hidden sword and walked out.

The man watched him go; he held a sickening grin on his face. _Soon, Soujiro, I'll have my revenge._

oOoOoOoOoOo

"We'll look separately! I'll search the north side of town and you search the south, ok?" Kira said to Soujiro. It was time to search for the man from yesterday. They have had their rest and breakfast and now both were to look for clues to the Hiryuuken.

Soujiro nodded with his usual smile. "Hai, Kira-dono. If we haven't found anything by dusk we'll meet back at the inn."

Kira nodded and both turned to search.

Soujiro walked south of the town of Osaka and began to search. It was still morning so there were fewer people on the streets. Soujiro scanned the faces of the locals, but couldn't find the face he was looking for. However, he didn't give in and continued to look for the man.

The weather was fine, making Soujiro feel very refreshed. When he was still with Shishio, he had never bothered with these things. The thought of being strong was all that was on his mind then. In a way, Soujiro was glad that Himura defeated him. Aside from the harsh sakabato wound across his chest from Himura's Ama-kakeru, Ryu-no-Hirameki, which had long subsided from pain, Soujiro felt better then he ever had before. Of course, now wasn't the time to think of the past, Soujiro knew. He had to focus to help Kira; he didn't want to let his new friend down. Quickly, Soujiro cleared his head from distractions and persisted to the search.

Soujiro walked silently through the town for two hours but still didn't find the man. Soon his search took him to a beautiful river; the area was clean with lots of grassland and trees dotted the place. Soujiro decided to rest for awhile from his search. So he sat himself down on the grass and stared out to the river.

Birds chirped with delight and the sun was now high in the sky. The scenery looked beautiful, Soujiro smiled a genuine smile. Suddenly, Soujiro soon felt a strong ki coming towards him. His eyes hardened, the ki didn't feel familiar so Soujiro had to wonder who it was.

An inner sixth sense told him that whoever was behind him was about to strike. He quickly grabbed his sakabato and as fast as lightning sprung in the air to dodge the strike, which struck nothing but the grass he just sat on.

Soujiro landed on his feet several feet away from the newcomer, his back facing him. His hand held the hilt of his sword. _That was close._ He thought.

"You are quick." The newcomer said. Soujiro blinked in surprise, he knew that voice, and he turned around to face the stranger.

"You definitely deserve the title of the Tenken." It was Ryuji! The man turned around to face him. "We meet again."

Soujiro blinked. Not quite believing what just happened. There stood the man who saved Kira's life and who, just moments ago, tried to belt him down. Ryuji stood in a casual pose, his sword rested on his shoulder like usual. However, his brown eyes were hard and were burning with a warrior's passion for a good fight. He didn't seem like the Ichida Ryuji from yesterday, his ki appeared more intense.

"I come to fight you, Tenken. I was told to capture you dead or alive. Now we must fight!" Ryuji said. His voice seemed deeper set too.

Despite his smile, Soujiro's face was emotionless. "Who sent you?"

"It's not my place to tell you that. But I must admit, I'd never guess -you- to be the Tenken."

Soujiro slightly chuckled at that. "Ara, I get that a lot. You're defiantly not the first, Ryuji-san."

Ryuji snorted, "Aa, you didn't seem the type." Then he pointed his sword at Soujiro. "But I still must complete my duty as a bounty hunter. Tenken no Soujiro…"

Both men tensed as their eyes met. Soujiro quickly moved into the Battoujutsu stance as Ryuji also stood ready for attack. A gust of wind swept passed them as they stood in that position for three heartbeats. There was no backing out.

"LET'S GO!" Ryuji shouted and both charged with amazing speed. Soujiro knew it was time to try out his new sakabato. The blade was drawn out of its sheath and clashed with the blade of Ryuji's sword. Metal met metal, and both warriors thought only one thing.

_The fight is on._

oOoOoOoOoOo

Kira hide in the shadows like any skilled ninja. She had found him! The man from yesterday! It took all her will to not jump with excitement the moment she found him. The man was walking several feet away from her. Her aim was to follow him until he took her to where the Hiryuuken would be, which would usually be kept in his house. Judging by what he wears and the way he walks, Kira guessed that he must be of high authority in Osaka, which meant he must live in a wealthy house of some sort.

For awhile, Kira would follow he's every step, either in the shadows or within the crowd. The man at times would stop to talk to people he knew or go into shops, but after that he would continue to walk again and Kira would follow him.

After an hour, Kira began to feel weary; she wasn't sure when the man would return home. She prayed that he would soon; all this stalking was tiring her out. Then luck was on her side when the man met up with his friend, Kira recognized as his friend from yesterday. They were talking and Kira was able to catch parts of their conversation.

"Hey Keitaro-san! How's it goin'?" said the friend.

"Yusuke-san! Just the man I was looking for!" Keitaro replied. "My brother said he'd allow us to take a peek at his new sword, wanna see it?"

"Sure, not like there's anything better ta do in this dull town anyway." With that both men started walking away. Kira's excitement returned. _Finally! Now I can find out where they keep my father's sword!_

Keeping as hidden as possible, Kira followed the men south of the town. It wasn't long until they came to a huge mansion with guards at the entrance. Kira quickly hide behind a tree and saw the guards let the men in. Kira smirked, her past experiences has taught her a lot about these guarded mansions and the guards were easily dealt with. _To steal like a thief, you must think like a thief._ Kisho once told her and she had always followed that advice and was always successful when trying to steal her father's swords back.

The first step was to get into the mansion undetected. Kira looked around the area and saw Sakura trees planted near the walls of the mansion. As swift and as quiet as a cat, Kira ran to the trees, and quickly climbed to the top of it, her pink ninja uniform camouflaged with the pink Sakura blossoms. Kira looked down from the tree to see a courtyard over the wall. What made it better was that no one but a servant girl around her age was sweeping away.

Kira smiled to herself. _This is going to be easier than I thought_. With unbelievable silence, she jumped from the tree and landed behind the girl. From there Kira rendered the girl unconscious with one swift hit on a pressure point. She quickly hid the girl behind some bushes and after awhile, Kira came out of the bushes dressed as the servant girl. That leads to step number two, to explore the mansion in disguise.

Kira had always liked to pride herself a master of disguises. She had done it before when she was still a ninja-in-training just to tease her ninja colleagues. At first, it was simply just irritating pranks to them, then later they realized how useful it was for some circumstances. Plus, it helps when you don't want to be recognized.

Kira began to investigate within the mansion. It was very well furnished inside and was decorated in the traditional Japanese style. As she went from room to room, Kira mapped out the mansion in her head, remembering every detail. No, she was not going to steal the Hiryuuken in broad daylight, not this time. Kira wanted to map out the mansion before deciding on exactly how to go about stealing her father's sword back. She also had to locate where the sword was kept, no doubt it would be hidden safety always from prying hands and thieves.

Kira, as she investigated every room, was slightly surprised at how very few people she saw around the mansion. At times, she would stumble across some of the residents, who just simply ignored her when they saw her as the servant girl. She also saw other servants and guards, who some may smile or wave at her, or ignored her like the residents. Kira, at times, had to suppress herself from uncontrollable laughter; the residents were completely unaware of her disguise.

After a long hard search and mind-mapping, Kira now had only one more room to inspect. Not finding the Hiryuuken anywhere else, Kira prayed that the sword is kept in the last room. She placed her hand on the door and was about to push it open when…

"What are you doing?"…a harsh voice behind her made her whole body freeze.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Both Soujiro and Ryuji exchanged rapid blows at each other before both fighters jumped back a few paces. Their eyes stared at each other intensely. Soujiro's grip on the hilt of his sword tightened. He wasn't used to fighting with a sakabato, he wasn't used to the weight, but that would change through time.

On the other side, Ryuji stood ready for another attack. Soujiro was amazed by his speed; his large sword looked rather heavy but that didn't seem to cease his speed the slightest. Of course, he wasn't as fast as Soujiro, but Soujiro knew from experience that anyone who could take several blows from the Tenken and not falter was no ordinary fighter. Ryuji was defiantly not one to underestimate.

The rurouni smirked and his foot began to tap. He was enjoying this; he hadn't had a good fight since his duel with the battousai. Soujiro after one last tap sprung into the three steps short of the Shukuchi, trying to aim for Ryuji's shoulder. Ryuji's eyes widen as he came at him as a blur and on impulse Ryuji jumped to the side scarcely dodging the blow. However, Soujiro wasn't finished, he kept running and up a tree that had been behind Ryuji. When gravity began to push him, Soujiro's powerful legs pushed off the truck and he twisted his body to slash at Ryuji.

"Kuushuu!" Soujiro cried, slashing at Ryuji in midair. His body was a blur even in the air.

Ryuji swung his sword up to meet with Soujiro's and pushed him out of balance. He sent Soujiro awkwardly skittering backwards. But Ryuji didn't give Soujiro the time to regain his balance and charged at Soujiro aiming quick swift bows at him, which Soujiro blocked while at the same time quickly regaining his balance. Ryuji's eye were burning with passion of the battle, he too was enjoying the fight. Through out his life as a bounty hunter, Ryuji had never had to fight with his full strength, but today was different and Soujiro was forcing him to fight till the limit. For someone so small, he could hit hurt and was -very- fast, but Ryuji had a high stamina and wasn't one to be defeated easily.

After several more blows, both jumped back and landed a few feet away from the other. Soujiro had a slight cut on his left arm and left leg, but other wise was fine. Ryuji had some scratches and bruises on him, but he also stood firm. Both men stood still for a moment before the silence was broken by Soujiro.

"Why are you a bounty hunter, Ryuji-san? You don't seem like the type to do it for only money."

The bounty hunter snorted, "Wouldn't you like to know? If you survive this battle, I might tell you."

The former Tenken slightly slipped a look of confusion but was quickly replaced by his usual smile. He foot started to tap again and this time, Ryuji was ready for it.

"Ok then." Soujiro said cheerfully before springing into the two steps short of the Shukuchi. Ryuji watched the ground carefully; Soujiro left deep steps in the ground, marking where he had been. Ryuji waited for the perfect time to counter the attack, when the marks were just two feet away from him, his eyes lit with concentration. _Now!_

Ryuji immediately swung his sword around him, his body spinning with it. His arms tensed and using the impacted of his strength combined the force of the spin, he sent a tremendous force aiming at the oncoming rurouni.

"Bouseki Washi!" Ryuji yelled. Soujiro's eyes widened, their blades met creating a loud clashing sound. However, the force of Ryuji's attack was stronger and pushed Soujiro back, causing him to stumble and tumble backwards. Within a heartbeat, Soujiro was back on his feet. The attack had caused him to falter a little, but with Soujiro's attack to counter, he received less damaged than expected. Ryuji charged and swung his sword at Soujiro, expecting to catch him off guard after the last attack, but Soujiro was ready and he blocked it easily. At that moment, Soujiro sent a powerful kick in Ryuji's stomach, causing him to falter like Soujiro did before.

Both warriors where patting now, the effect of the attacks took a lot out of them. But neither refused to back down, their injuries weren't serious, but they weren't something to be ignored either. Both were so absorbed to the fight, they didn't take any notice of anything else around them.

Ryuji roared as he charged at Soujiro once again, Soujiro too charged as the battle continued.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"What are you doing?" Kira jumped and quickly spun around to face the person behind her. Her violet eyes met cold hazel eyes. Staring back at her was what seems to be an older version of Keitaro. He wore the traditional Japanese gi and hakama. His long black hair was tied in a high ponytail, but unlike his brother, he didn't have a strip of hair dyed white. The man looked like he was in his early thirties and would probably look handsome if he wasn't frowning at her. Kira guessed that he must be the older brother of Keitaro.

"I ask again, what are you doing?" His voice was strict and demanding, it made Kira feel nervous. _Ok, calm down Kira. It's time to put up your act._

"I…I was just checking to see if this room needed cleaning." Kira said, hoping he didn't see through her disguise.

The man continued to glare suspiciously at her. "I remember telling everyone that this part of the mansion was strictly forbidden. You shouldn't be anywhere near here."

Kira faked a surprised face and bowed. "Gomen nasai, I-I've forgotten that I shouldn't be here. I-I'll be more careful next time."

The man grunted, accepting the excuse. "You better remember. Now get out of here."

Kira quickly scurried away to another direction; she breathed a sigh of relief and a smirk appeared on her face. If that was indeed the brother that Keitaro was talking about, then she was certain that the Hiryuuken was kept in that room. Now that she knew were the Hiryuuken was and had already inspected the entire mansion, she no longer have to search anymore. Quickly, Kira headed back to the courtyard unnoticed, no-one was out in the yard so Kira took the opportunity to get out. She quickly changed back into her normal clothes and positioned the still unconscious servant girl near a rock, making it seem like she had fallen asleep.

Kira silently back tracked her way out of the mansion and soon she was away from the mansion like she had never been in there before. Inside, Kira was overflowing with triumph. _Yep, another job well done for you Kira. Now, it's just to draw out the floor plan and figuring out a way to get the Hiryuuken back._

Kira headed to the inn to wait for Soujiro, she couldn't wait to tell him what she had discovered. While still celebrating in her mind, Kira walked along a path that was near a beautiful river. It was so peaceful and the birds were chirping happily. The ninja smiled, today felt like such a wonderful day.

_:CLING:CLASH:_

Kira jumped at the sound of metal on metal. She was slightly disappointed, how dare someone disturb her in her peaceful mind. Kira decided to check out the commotion, so she slightly power walked her way to the noise. _It sounds like a fight. I wonder what's happening._

As she came closer to the noise, Kira began to notice two figures that seem to be in a sword fight of some sort. She couldn't make out who they were at the distance she was in, so she walked faster. Soon she could see that one figure was in blue and the other in black, they looked strikingly familiar. Then it hit her, the blue figure was Soujiro and the other figure was Ryuji from yesterday. _Why are they fighting?_

Now Kira was running, she stopped when she was about a few meters away from their fight. The battle was intense and she made no move to try to stop them, she just stood and watched.

Both Ryuji and Soujiro exchanged blows, both were tried, but both wanted to win. Ryuji leaped into the air and aimed a strike at Soujiro with his sword. Soujiro vanished into thin air, dodging the strike; he reappeared behind Ryuji and aimed a direct hit at his back. The hit didn't affect Ryuji too much and he swung his sword again to meet with Soujiro's. Ryuji glare with determination, while Soujiro had an emotionless smile on his face, it irritated Ryuji slightly, but he easily pushed that thought aside not wanting any distractions during the battle. Suddenly, Ryuji pushed Soujiro back slightly and grabbed the rurouni by the shirt and with enormous strength, threw him across the field.

Kira gasped as she watched Soujiro being thrown by Ryuji, but was even more surprised when Soujiro flipped and twisted his body to land on his feet on the ground, only to then vanish again. Kira saw him reappear behind Ryuji, who just a moment ago looked fine until Soujiro disappeared and now Ryuji looked beaten up. He dropped to his knees with his sword pinned to the earth to hold him up, his breathe was rutted and he looked like he was going to past out any second.

Now Kira had had enough, she couldn't stay quiet anymore. She was very impressed with Soujiro's ability; she never knew he was so strong and fast. Then again, she didn't know what the former Tenken was capable of. The scary police officer told her that he was a greatly feared assassin; she guessed that's why he was able to fight so well.

"Soujiro!" Soujiro looked up at the sound of his name. There, standing a few meters away was Kira. She had a worried look on her face that made Soujiro's heart twist slightly. _Oh dear, was she watching us the whole time?_

"What happened? Why were the both of you fighting?" Kira asked anxiously.

The rurouni looked uneasily at Ryuji, who was breathing heavily and struggling to stand up. "Ara, we were…ano…well, it's like this…"

Ryuji interrupted him. "I'm a bounty hunter... I was told to capture the Tenken, so I challenged him to a fight. But I'll admit it that I lost." Ryuji was standing now and was still patting slightly. He had recovered quickly, but it was evident that he was till in pain.

Kira blinked. "You were told to capture Soujiro? By who?"

Ryuji shook his head. "I'm not aloud to give you that information. But don't worry…" Ryuji turned to face Soujiro, his face was calm like the first time Soujiro met him. "…in my life as a bounty hunter, I have never lost a fight until now. You have earned my respect Tenken."

Soujiro gave an innocent confused look. "Ara?"

Ryuji shook his head again. "I won't try to capture you anymore."

Soujiro smiled and Kira looked relieved. But that lend to the question, who was it that wanted him captured? Soujiro had known people were looking for him and wanted him dead. He had been very stealthy when he arrived at new towns and people discovering who he was, was not an easy thing to do. But it has happened to him twice now. The first time was back in Kyoto, where Hajime Saitou had caught him. It was not a total surprise that the Mibu's wolf would have been able to track him down, after all, the Shinsen-gumi were always very good with their sources. But now, someone else has identified him. Soujiro was beginning to think that he was losing his touch.

Kira breathed a sign of relief. She didn't want her friend to be taken away, despite how bad his reputation is. She didn't understand why, but she was beginning to feel attached to him somehow.

A loud rustling noise came from the bushes behind Kira. It startled Soujiro, Kira and Ryuji, but mostly Kira. Before they knew it, a man rushed out of the bushes, caught Kira around her neck with his arm and held a gun pointing to her head.

"Don't move or the girl's history!"

**Translations:**  
Kuushuu - Air Raid  
Bouseki Washi - Spinning Eagle

AN: So how is it? I'm not too good at describing a battle scene so sorry if the fight between Soujiro and Ryuji sucked. I hope I have made it clear that Soujiro is NOT like a second version of Kenshin and Kira is a totally different person herself. If after this chapter you still think that way about them, then maybe you could review and give me some tips. I am, after all, new to this. Also, I have a question for you readers, what is Mary-Sue? Seriously. I really don't know what it is.

Anyway, please R&R. I'm running low on inspiration, so a nice review would be very much appreciated.


	4. Forgotten Memorises

Disclaimer: I don't not own Soujiro, never did, never will.

AN: Hello! There is the fourth chapter. I want to let you readers know that I do not guarantee quick updating, though I would do me best to update as quick as possible. Also, thank you very much to all those who reviewed!

* * *

**Rurouni Soujiro** – starring Seta Soujiro  
Chapter 4: _Forgotten Memorises: A Plan to Steal the Hiryuuken_  
By Evee-chan

_Italic words_ meant someone's thinking

**Last chapter…**

A loud rustling noise came from the bushes behind Kira. It startled Soujiro, Kira and Ryuji, but mostly Kira. Before they knew it, a man rushed out of the bushes, caught Kira around her neck with his arm and held a gun pointing to her head.

"Don't move or the girl's history!"

* * *

Both Ryuji and Soujiro widened their eyes. Soujiro because one, Kira was in danger, and two, he didn't notice the man's presences until he came out of the bushes. Soujiro cured himself for his own folly, maybe he really was beginning to lose his touch. 

Ryuji was wide eyed because the man who held Kira hostage was the man who told him to capture the Tenken. Ryuji's grip on his sword tightened. He was not a cold man; he didn't like to see innocent people get hurt. What was worst was that it was used for a threat.

"Uyeda! Let go of the girl! She has nothing to do with this capture!" Ryuji yelled at the man.

The man called Uyeda smirked and pointed his gun at Ryuji. "Don't order me around Ichida-san. Since you couldn't capture the Tenken, I guess I'll just have to dispose of him myself." His smirk was full of venom.

Suddenly, Soujiro's mind exploded with images, images of the past, images of that dreadful night, the night he first killed. _Uyeda? No…could it be him?_

Uyeda pointed his gun at Soujiro, seeing Soujiro in such a fearful state only made his smirk the viler. "I see you remember me Soujiro, it's been such a long time hasn't it?"

Soujiro found that he couldn't move, his legs were frozen and his arms were stiff. Seta Uyeda was his adoptive family's favourite guest and closest relative. He was the one who made little Soujiro's life a living hell whenever he came on his regular visits to the Seta's estate. He would always say how a whore's son is as bad as the mother and only caused trouble. But that's not all, to prove his point; he would make all sorts of trouble for Soujiro. Like the time Soujiro was to bring his adoptive father his sake…

_Little Soujiro was carrying the sake to his adoptive father, when he saw Uyeda. Soujiro tried to stay unnoticed by the man but he saw him anyway. _

_Uyeda smirked when he saw him carrying his brother's sake. "Be careful Soujiro, you wouldn't want to -drop- that now, would you?"_

_Soujiro just smiled at the man and walked past him. He didn't notice that Uyeda placed his foot in his way and Soujiro tripped over it, breaking the sake jar he was holding and spilling the sake everywhere._

_Upon hearing a crash, the rest of Soujiro's adoptive family came to see the commotion. When the adoptive father saw his sake jar broken and the sake spilt everywhere, he immediately went to accusations._

"_You worthless little brat! You broke my sake jar and spilt all my fine sake! I'll make you regret you ever set foot in this house!"_

_That night, Soujiro was beaten black and blue and was not aloud to rest until he cleaned up the mess he made, added with the extra 50 rice barrows he had to carry into the rice barn._

Back to the present, Soujiro shuddered at the memory and for the first time in ten years he showed fear on his face, complete terror. He had almost forgotten how it felt to be scared. Now that he has rediscovered fear, it hit him at full blow. He felt on his knees and his whole body started to shake. His eyes were filled with a mixture of fear and anger. Soujiro could remember and actually -feel- the beating from his childhood. Every blow was hurting him mentally. Words from Shishio returned to him. "If you're strong you live, if you're weak you die!" Soujiro cover his ears. _No! I no longer believe in Lord Shishio's words anymore! No!_ But the words continue to repeat in his head. If he didn't do something, he was going to breakdown again, just like with the Battousai.

Uyeda seemed to be satisfied with Soujiro's emotional breakdown and smirked. "Look at him, he's as weak as the little bastard he once was."

This made Kira's anger flare up, she had been surprised to see Soujiro slowly break out of his smiling mask, but now she knew why. This man, Uyeda, must be causing Soujiro to remember some horrible things from his past, and now he was mentally hurting him by reminding him of it. Kira, out of rage, swung her arms over her head and grasped Uyeda's gi, and with strength she never knew she had, she threw the man over her head, slamming him on the ground. Uyeda was so surprised he dropped his gun.

Ryuji, who had been waiting for a chance to disarm Uyeda, quickly ran to him and caught hold of him before he could grab his gun again. He turned to Kira and gestured her to help Soujiro. She nodded and ran to the blue-clad rurouni.

Soujiro screamed and bashed his fist and head to the ground, like a frustrated little child. He had tears rolling down his face and at that moment, the former Tenken looked like a lost and vulnerable little child. Seta Soujiro, the former right hand man of Shishio, had broken down a second time. He's mind was confused and he's soul was hurt, images from his childhood plagued his minded while Shishio's words continued to haunt him. It was driving him to the edge of madness.

Kira gently wrapped her arms around Soujiro, hugging him. She felt him tense and was immediately pushed away, but Kira stubbornly hugged him tighter. She tried to calm him down by whispering softly in his ear and tenderly stroking him like she would to her cousin Kirei when she was upset. She soon knew this worked when she felt him slowly calming until only soft sobbing sounds could be heard. Still, Kira continued to whisper and stroke him. "It's ok, it's ok. Nobody's going to hurt you. I'm here for you."

Ryuji made his 'former' client unconscious by hitting him at the back of his neck and letting his body drop in a thud. To Ryuji, he wasn't ever worth killing. Ryuji picked up the gun that was left forgotten on the ground and crushed it with one hand. He never liked western weapons anyway and it was best not to leave it lying around someone like Uyeda. Then Ryuji turned to face the younger two a little distance away. Everything looked fine now, Kira was hugging Soujiro and Soujiro, who had gone psycho a moment before, was now calm. Ryuji sighed and walked towards them.

Kira looked up when Ryuji stood beside her. His expression was emotionless, but she was sure she saw a little flick of sympathy in his eyes. "How is he?"

Kira looked down at Soujiro who seem to have fainted from his breakdown. "He fainted, but I think he'll be ok."

Ryuji nodded. "I think we should tend to him. Come with me, I'll take you to my place." With that, Ryuji began to walk away. Kira blinked before she pulled Soujiro up and placing his arm around her shoulder. She winced a little when she got up, Soujiro was a bit heavy for her and it didn't look like Ryuji was going to help her, so she had to keep up with him while trying to carry the unconscious rurouni.

* * *

The first thing that Soujiro noticed was that he had a throbbing headache; he also noticed that he was laying on a futon with a blanket over him. _What happened?_ Soujiro opened his eyes and saw that he didn't recognize the room. Now he was confused, where was he? Soujiro tried to push himself up, but his headache made it almost impossible. 

"Oh, you're awake!" Soujiro looked up to see Kira enter the room. "This is Ryuji's house if you're wondering. How are you feeling? You were out for two hours."

Soujiro blinked. "Two hours? Well, I feel fine aside from the headache I'm having right now."

Kira nodded, "I wouldn't be surprised. You were bashing your head on the ground, hard."

As Kira said that, Soujiro began to remember what happened two hours ago, the fight with Ryuji, meeting Uyeda and his second breakdown. It came to him like a dream though, as if it was a distance memory and it just happened two hours ago…or maybe it was the headache. Soujiro tired to massage his forehead, all this thinking was making his headache worst. It was best not to think of it right now.

As it turned out, Ryuji owned a house just outside the town of Osaka. It looked weather-beaten and was simply furnished, but was also surprisingly stabled. The inside wasn't very big either; it could at most been able to have two people living in it.

Suddenly, Ryuji walked into the room with a cup of water in hand and handed it to Soujiro. "How are you feeling? You really freaked out before." Ryuji sat himself down next to Kira, his arms crossed.

Soujiro smiled and drank the water, easing his headache a bit. "Arigato Ryuji-san, I'm feeling ok now. Demo, why are you helping me?"

Ryuji grunted. "Don't ask; I don't know why I do these things."

Soujiro sweat dropped. "Ano…ara, ok."

Suddenly, Kira remembered something very important. "Oh yeah! Soujiro! I found out where the Hiryuuken is! Wait, I need to draw out the map, just hold on a minute!" With that, Kira ran out of the room, leaving two confused men behind.

"What…was that about?" Ryuji asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I have an idea. Kira-dono is always like this when she's excited."

An awkward silence came after that. It was unnerving so Soujiro had to break the silence somehow.

"Ara, do you live by yourself, Ryuji-san?"

"Aa, I used to live with my older brother though."

"Used to?"

Ryuji stared out to space. "Aa, he died of a disease five years ago. He was a great bounty and a great brother. I idolized him, that's why I became a bounty hunter like him."

Soujiro smiled. "Sou ka, so that's why you're a bounty hunter."

Ryuji smirked. "Aa." _Hai, but that is only half the reason why I became a bounty…_

As suddenly as she went, Kira was back, but this time with a piece of paper in her hand. She rushed up to Soujiro and pushes the paper in his hand.

"There! Look! This is the map of the house where the Hiryuuken is!" Kira explained with pride.

Soujiro looked at the piece of paper to find a very detailed map with an 'X' marking where the Hiryuuken is held. He looked up at Kira. "How did you…"

Before he could finish his question, Kira went at full blow into explaining. "I ran into the man from yesterday, well not 'ran into' more like found him, but anyway, I knew he was going to led me to the Hiryuuken, so I followed him. At first it was boring because he was just walking around, until he met his friend from yesterday, Yusuke I think his name was, but anyway, they both went to this huge mansion, which I knew was where the Hiryuuken would be. Being the mischievous ninja I was, I went in by jumping over the walls and I dress myself as a servant girl, smart huh? Then I went inside the mansion and started mapping the whole place in my mind…"

"Breath now, Kira-dono!" Soujiro said a bit distressed. Kira took a big gasp of air in and breathed out.

"Yeah, I was mapping the place, every corner, every detail. I was also searching for the Hiryuuken as well, so after when I searched through nearly every room in the mansion, I came across this room I couldn't get into. You know why? Because this really scary man came up behind me and told me to -buss off-. So I did, I was servant girl after all, I had to listen. Then I got out of the mansion because I had finished mapping out the place and that is why I was able to draw out the floor plans."

Kira was panting after that, but she still held a proud face. Both Soujiro and Ryuji could only stare at her like she's grown two heads; they both could only barely understand what she just said.

"Sou…ka. That's very impressive, Kira-dono." Soujiro said with a nervous smile and a sweat drop on his head. Ryuji only gave her a blank stare.

Kira stood up with pride. "I hope you're ready for this Soujiro, because tonight we're busting in that mansion and taking the Hiryuuken back!"

Soujiro this time had a large sweat drop on his head. "W-we?"

"Hai! You -did- said that you're going to help me right? Besides, I've decided that tonight's plan-of-attack will include -more- than just one thief." Kira said rubbing her hands with mischief.

* * *

It was 11 o'clock at night and it was this time that Kira was going to proceed with her plan to stealing the Hiryuuken back. As Kira prepares for the ambush, the mansion itself was completely oblivious to the upcoming event. 

In some bushes never the mansion…

"Kira-dono, I've never…"

"Quiet! Just trust me, this'll work." Kira whispered with a smirk.

"This is stupid. Why are we doing this again?" Ryuji asked in an irritated tone.

"Kira-dono said that she's stealing her father's sword back and we're here to help create a distraction." Soujiro explained with a bright smile.

Kira gave Ryuji a stern look. "Hey, you're the one who wanted to join; you can't back out now."

Ryuji snorted. "If I knew it meant wearing a ridiculous costume, I wouldn't have decided to join."

It was true, as part of Kira's 'plan-of-attack', both Soujiro and Ryuji were made to wear clothing more fitting for the theater than for what they were about to do. Soujiro was wearing a dark blue gi, black hakama and a navy blue coat. He had a blue face mask on top of his head, ready to cover his face with. Ryuji was made to wear a green gi, dark green hakama and a muck green coat. He too had a face mask on top of his head, except it was green and had long white hair attached to it. Beneath their gi, both Soujiro and Ryuji had to wear more under garments then usual, which Kira said would help disguise their body shape. However, with all these clothing, it made moving a lot harder and it added extra weight on them. Soujiro was allowed to carry his sakabato with him, for he needed it. But Ryuji had to change his kai-ken for a normal katana; Kira was worried that if Ryuji had brought his kai-ken that people would have recognized him, being he was well known in Osaka. But they weren't the only ones who needed to dress up; Kira wore black clothing and wore a cloth mask that covers her mouth and nose, leaving only her eyes uncovered.

The plan was simple, both Soujiro and Ryuji were to go up to the mansion and claim that they were here to steal the Hiryuuken and create a distraction. That would bring all the people in the mansion's attention to them and it is then that Kira would slip into the mansion and take the Hiryuuken. They would all meet back at Ryuji's house after that. A pretty simple plan right? Well Kira, having done such things longer than they have, was fusing over hiding their identity and turned them into wacky costume would-be thieves. For both Soujiro and Ryuji, it was a very strange distraction indeed.

"Alright you two get out there and do your role!" Kira commanded.

Both Soujiro and Ryuji gave unsure looks before slipping on their masks and rushing out of the bushes to proceed to their role.

On the outside of the mansion walls, two guards were guarding the entrance to the mansion. Soujiro and Ryuji began to walk out of the shadows and relieved themselves. At that moment the guards noticed them and immediately unsheathed their swords from their sheaths.

"Who are you? What do you want?" asked the first guard, he regarded the two with a strange look.

Both Soujiro and Ryuji glanced at each other, knowing fully why he was giving them such a look. Ryuji then turned to the guards, "We're here to steal the Hiryuuken! Get out of the way if you value your life!"

"Steal the Hiryuuken? Are you talking about the new sword that Kentaro-sama got?" the second guard asked.

Soujiro blinked, Kira had never told them who currently owned the sword so he guessed that this Kentaro was the current owner. "Hai, tell Kentaro-san that unless he brings the Hiryuuken to us, he would not have to bring anyone to the hospital."

This angered the guards and together they both attacked the intruders with a furious roar. Both the rurouni and bounty were ready for the attack, but because Kira had warned them about how they fight, they had to go easy on the guards.

The fight had created a commotion and other guards came out to help fend off the 'thieves'. The commotion also got to the people in the mansion, especially the master Kentaro as well.

"What is happening?" He asked one of his guards.

"Kentaro-sama, there are two men outside that claim they are here to steal the Hiryuuken. The other guards are now fighting them, my Lord." The guard explained.

"What!"

"Hey, bro! What's goin on?" Keitaro asked his brother as he came into his room.

Kentaro grunted, annoyed, he turned to face his guard again. "Get rid of them! Don't let them near this mansion!" The guard quickly bowed and immediately left the room.

* * *

Back outside and still in the bushes, Kira got herself ready. She can see that both Soujiro and Ryuji were doing a splendid job at distracting. Now that everyone's attention is on them, Kira can now do her part. She had already memorized the lay out of the mansion and had figured out the safest and quickest way to get to 'the room'. With cat-like grace, Kira ran and jumped on to the sakura tree from this morning and slipped into the mansion from the courtyard. 

Upon when she reached 'the room', excitement immediately ran through her veins that she didn't notice that she was being watched. She went through the door that stood between her and the inside of the room and in that instant, she saw the Hiryuuken resting on a sword rack at the very end of the room. The room was clearly a store room for very important and valuable possessions, expensive vase and objects were carefully displayed on the shelves and some famous artworks were hung on the walls. She could be almost certain that this room resembled Akiyama Itou's room filled with unique and rare artefacts, except a lot smaller.

Kira walked up to the sword rack and saw a couple of swords resting on the rack. The one that stood out the most was the Hiryuuken. It had a brilliantly designed sheath; it had a picture of a dragon twirling around the sheath, with tiny emeralds for eyes on it. Kira carefully picked up the sword and examined it, making sure it was real.

Suddenly, Kira head a crack sound behind her and immediately she knew she was not alone. She sung her body around, using the sheathed Hiryuuken to hit who ever it was behind her. As quick as a snake, a hand grabbed the sword. Kira widened her eyes to see that it was the man who stopped her from entering the room, Keitaro's older brother. The man aimed a quick punch to her stomach and sent her crashing into the sword rack.

Kira was hurt, but she didn't give up, she had to get the Hiryuuken back! The man in front of her unsheathed her father's sword and tried to strike her down, however, Kira was ready and she swiftly jumped aside to avoid the strike. She rebounded off one of the shelves and aimed a flying kick at the man, sending him flying and crashing into another shelf. Kira pulled out her flat, round and spiky weapon, this was her favourite weapon made by her father; she called it Shi-su-ken. She called it that because it was a unique weapon that can be separated into the sheath and the blade, and be put back into one as the Shi-su-ken.

Kira held the Shi-su-ken defensively as she watched the man slowly get back up. She could tell that he was angry; he held the Hiryuuken tightly and got into a fighting stance.

"I get it. Those people outside aren't here to steal the Hiryuuken, they're just a distraction so you can steal it. Tell me, who are you!" The man yelled.

Kira could feel a smirk coming up. "Why should I tell you who I am?"

The man growled. "Fine, have it your way. I won't let you take the Hiryuuken. Filthy thieves like you don't deserve the honour!" At that, both charged at each other.

* * *

Soujiro dodged an oncoming strike and hit the guard in the stomach with the hilt of his sword, rendering him unconscious. The heavy costume was making fighting quite difficult, but with the level of skill of the guards, it wasn't too hard to defeat them. The fight had already gone for fifteen minutes and both Ryuji and he had already knocked out five guards while fighting at their easiest. 

Ryuji was beginning to feel bored, he could have finished the fight ten minutes ago, but in order to give time he had to deal with the lengthy battle. However, there was one problem; he was ITCHING so badly to take off the mask. The hair on it was irritating him, why did he decide to help them in the first place?

Suddenly, a familiar whistling sound was heard in the area. The police! At this, both Soujiro and Ryuji knew it was time to split. So they quickly ran away from the mansion leaving the slightly confused guards behind. And that was the end of their role.

Relieved, Ryuji took off his mask. "Finally, no more of this stupid mask anymore!"

Soujiro chuckled, but he didn't pull off his mask. They kept running through the streets, heading back to Ryuji's house. Suddenly, a sixth sense told Soujiro that something wasn't right and he stopped abruptly. Ryuji, who notice Soujiro stop, also stopped too.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

Soujiro turned to look back at the direction to the mansion. "Something's not… Ryuji-san, you go back first, I'll catch up later."

Before Ryuji could say anything, Soujiro had already disappeared back to the mansion. He breathed out a sigh before turning and running back to his house.

* * *

Kira charged, as did the man. When both came in striking range, the man swung the Hiryuuken down at Kira and Kira held her Shi-su-ken above her head to bloke the strike. At that instant, Kira kicked the man in the stomach making him stumble back, but did not fall. Then Kira separated the Shi-su-ken, her left hand held the sheath of her weapon and her right held the blade. You could see that the blade was twirled like the sheath into a circle and sharp blade-like spikes stuck out from its edges. 

The man held the sword defensively and Kira charged at him. She swung the blade at him and was blocked by the Hiryuuken; Kira took this chance to use the sheath and struck it across his face, bruising him. Kira swiftly jumped back and started to spin the sheath around her wrist like a hoop. The man was confused at this action and dropped his guard slightly. Kira immediately saw this and swung the spinning sheath at the man, it was only at the last minute that the man jumped out of its way, letting the sheath smash into the shelf behind him, breaking the objects that sat on it.

The man quickly charged at Kira and swung the Hiryuuken to her side. Kira blocked the attack, but didn't see him aim a kick at her until the last second. Getting kicked in the stomach, made Kira hit the wall behind her and after being punched in that area, the kick made the pain worst. Now the man was smirking and he held the Hiryuuken above her, ready to strike her again.

Kira bit her lip as the blade of her father's sword came down on her…

_:CLING:_

Both Kira and the man's eyes widened as the strike was blocked. There, between Kira and the man was Soujiro, who still wore his mask, with his sakabato drawn out.

The man jumped back and Soujiro gave a curious look. "Who are you?"

Soujiro didn't answer, instead he disappeared and reappeared behind the man and aimed a swift hit at the back of his head, rendering him unconscious.

Soujiro then took off his mask and looked at Kira with concern. "Daijobu desu ka, Kira-dono?"

Kira blinked before pulling down her cloth mask and smiled. "Daijobu."

Soujiro smiled in reply and looked around the room. "I think we should leave, Kira-dono."

Kira nodded and quickly picked up the Hiryuuken and her sheath. Both hastily ran out of the room, but when they heard running foot steps coming their way, Soujiro decided that they would have to get out another way. Quickly, he pulled Kira into another room and opened a window. The window was facing the streets so all they had to do was jump out. However, there was also the problem with the police, which Soujiro knew, was still outside of the mansion.

Soujiro turned to face Kira. "Sumimasen Kira-dono, but this would be the quickest way." With that, Soujiro pick Kira up in bridal style.

Kira yelped. "Soujiro no baka! What are you doing?" If you look closely, you could see that she was blushing.

"Sumimasen!" Soujiro jumped out of the window and the moment his feet touched the ground, Soujiro used Shukuchi and sped off into the night back to Ryuji's house.

**Translations:**

Sou ka – I see

Kai-ken – Large sword

Shi-su-ken – Sheath-blade

Sumimasen – excuse me

* * *

AN: So here is chapter 4, I hope you enjoyed reading it. Do tell me what you think and review. About Kira's plan and having Ryuji and Soujiro dress up, if any of you thought it was weird, well... it was suppose it be. It is a part of Kira's creativity and it's wackiness comes from Kisho, her grandfather, which you'll fine out why in later chapters. Also, I don't think this is the last time we'll be seeing Soujiro's foster uncle, Uyeda. I know he does quite a bit of mental damage to Soujiro (Sorry to Soujiro fans out there), but I will need him in some other parts of this story.

Anyway, please R&R. Thanks.


	5. A New Companion

A/N: Hello everyone! I am back! Sorry, so sorry for the long wait. I've been caught up with homework and exams, there is never anytime to write! But now the hoildays are here and I can write more. YAY!!!

Declaimer: I don't own Soujiro, I don't own Rurouni Kenshin. I do own this fanfic though.

* * *

**Rurouni Soujiro** – starring Seta Soujiro 

Chapter 5: _A New Companion: Ryuji Comes Along_

By Evee-chan

_Italic words_ meant someone's thinking

_Soujiro looked around, fire, fire and more fire, that's was all he could see. He was surrounded by nothing but fire. Soujiro looked around harder, trying to make out something from the fire. A shadow suddenly appeared out of the flames and he could hear a very familiar sound of laughter._

"_Ahahahaha!!! Soujiro! Feel the fires of hell!" Soujiro realized that it was his former master, Shisho, who was talking. Suddenly, as if in Shishio's command, the fire surrounding him began to burn him, it was scorching him. Soujiro screamed; his whole entire body was in pain. The laughing also continued. It was haunting. It reminded Soujiro of his past and all his killing, it was driving him mad! But along with that, the fire was burning him to no end._

"_You see, Soujiro, only the strongest lives and the weak will die! That is the ultimate truth and the ONLY truth!!!" Shisho said before bursting into another fit of laughter._

_Soujiro was suddenly enclosed into darkness and he felt himself falling deeper into nothingness. Then Soujiro felt himself landing on the ground in a hard thud. He looked up and saw a horrible sight. Both Kira and Ryuji were on the ground bleeding with Uyeda stand over them with a gun in hand._

"_Help, Soujiro!" Kira cried hoarsely._

"_Save us!" Ryuji was also gasping in pain._

_Soujiro wanted to help them but to his horror, his body won't move. Uyeda smirked and he pointed his gun at Soujiro, ready to fire._

"_Poor little Soujiro, too weak to even save himself, let alone save his friends." With that, Uyeda pulled the trigger and everything went black…_

Soujiro snapped his eyes open and swiftly sat up on his futon. His face was sweaty and he was panting like he had just run a marathon. His eyes were wide and frightened. Slowly, Soujiro tried to calm himself down until he was breathing evenly again. _It was only a dream, a nightmare._

Memories of yesterday's event began to come back to him, about the fight with Ryuji, the encounter with Uyeda and stealing the Hiryuuken. Soujiro looked around and found himself in Ryuji's room. The bounty hunter seems to have woken up early because his futon was empty. Soujiro could smell miso soup coming from the kitchen, so he got up and headed out of the room.

As expected, Soujiro found Ryuji cooking miso soup over a fire place in the middle of the room. It smelt…nice.

"Ohayau gozaimasu, Ryuji-san!" Soujiro said cheerfully, sitting near the fire.

Ryuji looked up from his cooking. "Ohayau."

"Ohayau gozaimasu!" Kira jumped out from nowhere and sat next to Soujiro. Actually, she had been aloud to sleep in Ryuji's brother's room by herself because she was the only girl.

"You seem happy." Ryuji remarked. He handed her a bowl of the miso soup.

Kira smiled. "Of course I'm happy. I got my father's Hiryuuken back yesterday." She took the bowl of soup and began eating.

Soujiro also received a bowl. "So Kira-dono, what are you going to do now that you have the Hiryuuken?"

"I'm going to go back to the Sakura Numa, of course. I've got to bring the Hiryuuken back to Kisho-san. He would store it for me." Kira replied before resuming back to eating.

The trio ate their breakfast in silence. To the three of them, it felt nice to have some company around. For Soujiro, being a wanderer didn't consist of many friends, or any for that matter. So it was nice to have both Kira and Ryuji to eat with him. For Kira, even though she had her family in Nagoya, she isn't consistently there with them because she would be on a mission to find one of her father's lost swords. She would find herself alone on occasions like these, and it also took away her chance of making new friends too. So she's happy she found some friends this time. As for Ryuji, though he would never admit it, he had been quite lonely since his brother died and would probably consider himself more of a hermit. However, even hermits now and then need company, so he's, in a way, grateful for Soujiro and Kira's company.

Once Kira had finished her soup, she placed it on the floor and began to fiddle with her ninja outfit, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't. It surprised Soujiro, because Kira would normally say something right out without hesitation.

"Um, I've been thinking…," Kira said with a nervous grin, "About last night, I thought we made a great team stealing the Hiryuuken and all. Even though, I was the only one who really -did- any stealing, I still think you two made a good distraction. I think that if we work as a team, we could do anything. So I was wondering, is it ok with you guys if you come along with me and helped me find the rest of my father's swords?"

"…" A long pause was what came after that. It seemed like everyone froze because of that one question, even Kira herself.

Soujiro was the first to break the silence. "Ano, I'm just a wanderer and as far as I know, I've got plenty of time to spare, so…I wouldn't mind helping you, Kira-dono." Soujiro said with his oh-so-bright smile.

Kira's eyes appear to be sparkling like stars. "Would you really, Soujiro? Would you really help?"

"Hai, Kira-dono." Kira cheered, but was soon cut off…

"If it involves dressing up in weird costumes then forget it." Ryuji said. Soujiro sweat dropped.

Kira began to pout. "Awwww! But, but, the two of you were so good last night, you really distracted them!"

"I'm not doing it."

Kira was immediately at Ryuji's side. "Pleassssseeeeee, Ryuji-_sama_!"

"I've already got a job and reputation; I don't want to be known as a thief."

"If you're worried you'll get caught, you don't have to worry. That's what the costumes are for."

Ryuji's eye twitched, he was getting annoyed. "I've already told you, I don't want to dress up!"

However, Kira wasn't going to make it easy for him. She was staring at him with puppy dog eyes. "Pwetty pwease with a cherwy on top!"

Both Soujiro and Ryuji sweat dropped. They have never seen Kira beg before, but it looked like she wasn't going to give up anytime soon.

Ryuji's face became slightly grim and sighed. "Fine! If it means you'll shut up, then…I'll help."

Kira smiled and gave him the 'peace' sign, which made Ryuji pop a vain. She was playing tricks on him, he knew it.

The ninja stood up and made an announcement. "Alright gang, first we must head back to Nagoya. To Nagoya!" she said with a cattish smile.

* * *

The countryside was very peaceful, though that would be due to the fact that no-one but only three lone travellers occupied the road. It was a cool, breezy afternoon at the time and the woods nearby was alive with chirping birds. It was a scene like this that would make one want to simply smile and stare at. It was a beautiful day and it seems even the travellers agreed that it was pleasant. However, one traveller didn't take in the scene's beauty or feel that it was anything but a beautiful day. This particular traveller was known as Ichida Ryuji. 

"I can't believe I agreed to come." Ryuji groaned for the umpteenth time. Actually, it wasn't as bad as he made it appear to be. He had wanted to leave town for a bit himself. His job as a bounty hunter doesn't pay much if he doesn't have a fugitive to catch and someone to pay him for it. Since he decided not to capture his last fugitive, he didn't get paid, which meant he was going to be broke for awhile. At times like these, Ryuji would usually travel to another town, find a bounty house and search for a good bounty.

"Well, Kira-dono is a very…-persuasive- person." Soujiro said with his usual smile. Deep down, Soujiro had been quite glad that he was still travelling with Kira. During the time they were together, he had grown used to the company, even though he didn't know why. He is also happy he was able to help a friend. Even though he knew Himura wouldn't have agreed with the stealing part, Soujiro felt it was right to help someone like Kira, so he was going to stick to what he feels is right.

"I don't feel like I've been persuaded, more like forced into this." Ryuji complained.

Soujiro giggled. "Ah, Kira-dono is also that type of person."

Ryuji sighed. "I don't get how you could stand her?"

"You don't get how who could stand who?" Both Ryuji and Soujiro slightly jump at the voice. They both turned to face the ninja in surprise.

"How did you get there? I was sure you were in front of us a minute ago." Ryuji said, irritated.

Kira gave him a smug smile. "I was seeing what or -who- my two male companions are talking about."

Soujiro smiled nervously with a sweat drop. _She has keen hearing._ "We were talking about nobody in particular, Kira-dono."

Kira sighed. _Did I really expect them to be honest with themselves?_

Then, like nothing happened, Kira smiled brightly. "Anyway, are you hungry? There's a river not too far from here. I want to catch some fish for dinner tonight."

"That would be nice, and I -am- a little hungry." Soujiro agreed. Ryuji just simply shrugged.

"Good, let's go!" Kira said before skipping into the woods.

* * *

The river was clean and it felt cool and refreshing on Soujiro as he splashed some of its content on his face. It was a good thing the river was fresh water so there was a lot of fresh water fish in it. As he and Ryuji were busy trying to catch fish, Kira was busying herself by looking for wood to start a fire. 

"I'm going to go further down to look for more fire wood, ok?" Kira called out.

"OK." Soujiro smiled.

"Hey, be careful, the river starts to get rougher down there." Ryuji warned.

Kira nodded and headed down along the river.

She smiled. She was happy Soujiro and Ryuji were travelling with her. It meant that now she could have someone to help her find her father's missing swords. Three heads is always better than one. However, it also meant she now had the company of her friends when she's lonely. When Kira was first assigned to steal her father's swords back, at least one or two of her ninja colleagues would come with her. But as she grew older and business at the Sakura Numa got more demanding, Kira found herself doing the stealing herself. It was ok at first, it showed that she knew what she was doing, but it soon got lonely. Soujiro and Ryuji just made the assignment more…fun.

After ten minutes, Kira was holding an armful of dropped branches. She was about to turn back to the camp when something caught her eye. A little distance away, was what looked like a capsized boat. She also noticed that Ryuji was right; the water has gotten rougher down the river. It was possible the boat got capsized because of the rough water, but did that mean someone's in trouble?

Kira quickly rushed over to the capsized boat. When she did, the first thing she noticed was that someone was suck under the capsized boat. Half of the person's body was hidden under the boat and the other half wasn't. Kira thought it looked distinctly like a man with all the mud on him and with his back turned to her.

In the state that the man was in, Kira guessed that he was dead, but to make sure, Kira reached out to the man to check for a pulse. It was hard to find a pulse on the back so Kira tried the arms. Upon touching his arm, a hand suddenly shot out and grabbed her wrist. Shocked, surprised and scared to death, Kira did the first thing that came to mind, scream.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

* * *

Ryuji flopped himself on the grass, exhausted. He never knew catching fish was so hard. They would always slip away from you when you thought you had it and you would to end up catching nothing. It took Ryuji a while before he could get used to it. 

He looked over to where Soujiro was gutting the fish. It wasn't hard for him to catch fish. He was used to catching them, being the rurouni he was. Ryuji knew that he would have lots of practise in the art of survival.

"Hey, Soujiro, what made you quit being Tenken and become a wanderer?" Ryuji asked curiously, remembering that the rurouni was also once a great assassin.

Soujiro paused in what he was doing. What should he tell Ryuji? There were a lot of reasons why he became a wanderer.

Ryuji waited patiently for Soujiro's answer.

"I know of two swordsmen who were walking down the same path at the same point in the past, and it took ten years for them to reach opposite truths. So, I was thinking I might be able to find my own truth if I spend ten years wandering." Soujiro said with smile planted on his face.

Ryuji stared across the river, thinking about what Soujiro said. "Are those two swordsmen, Makoto Shishio and the Battousai?"

Soujiro blinked and looked at Ryuji. "H-how did you know?"

Ryuji shrugged. "Lucky I guess? When Uyeda told me to capture you, he gave me a file on you. It told me all about you being Tenken and everything. Don't worry I've already burnt the file. Anyway, two names stuck out when you told me 'two swordsmen', one, Makoto Shishio, who was your leader and the Battousai who you lost in a duel to."

"Sounds like you know a lot about me, Ryuji-san." Soujiro replied with a pleasant smile.

"No, I wouldn't say that. Like I don't know why you suddenly freaked out when you saw Uyeda or why I seem to always see you smile for no reason that I can think of." Ryuji said, he was still staring across the river.

Soujiro was about to say something when…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

A pitch scream was heard in the area, frightening the birds in the trees. Both Soujiro and Ryuji quickly turned to the scream, their hands automatically moving to their respective weapons.

"That sounded like Kira-dono, maybe she's in danger." Soujiro assumed.

Ryuji nodded. "Let's go find out."

Both dashed off to find Kira. The screaming didn't stop, so it wasn't long until they found her hunched over, shaking her arm and still screaming.

"LETGOLETGOLETGOLETGOLETGOLETGOLETGO!!!!"

Soujiro was only able to stop her from screaming when he helped her pull her arm away from the hand that was still grasping her. Once the hand finally let go, Ryuji grabbed the edge of the boat and un-capsized it. Then he grabbed the man by the shirt and lifts him up and out of the mud.

"Who are you?" Ryuji asked warningly, he had his large sword at the man's neck.

The man coughed and coughed out mud, he lifted his head to look at the bounty hunter. "I'm sorry, I-I…needed help." And then the man fainted.

Ryuji lowered his sword and looked at Soujiro and Kira, who both looked back at him.

"He doesn't seem like a threat, I think he really does need help." Ryuji stated, swinging the man on his shoulders and carrying him to the camp.

Both Soujiro and Kira began to follow the bounty hunter. "I still think he's scary." Kira said in disgust.

* * *

The man slowly regained conscious, his eyes opened and the first thing he saw was the starry night sky. He couldn't help but notice how hungry he was. As the man tried to get up, he felt gentile hands help him up as well. 

"There, sir, are you feeling better now?" a boy said with a pleasant smile, or was it a man. The man couldn't really tell. The boy wasn't a boy, yet he didn't have the features of a man either.

"Hai, I'm feeling much better now. Arigato." He smiled. He also noticed, how clean he felt, all the mud on him was gone.

"He's awake now! " The boyish man called behind him. That was when the man realized the other people. Another man, who looked to be in he's early twenties and a teenage-looking girl sitting next to him, they were both sitting near a camp fire. These three people must be the ones that found him.

"Hey, are you hungry?" the man asked him. "If you're hungry, you can have some of the fish we caught." Yes, he was hungry, and yes, fish would be nice.

"Arigato." Thanked the man as he took one of the cooked fish near him. He quickly began eating, he felt really hungry and the fish tastes good.

His three saviors watched him eat in silence and when he finished, he thanked them again. "Arigato, I am in you're debt." He said as he bowed in gratitude.

"Yeah, yeah." The man waved off the gratitude, "So who are you?"

"Ah, please address me as Miyamoto Hiroshi." Hiroshi replied with another bow.

"I'm Ichida Ryuji." Ryuji said pointing to himself.

"My name is Kitamura Kira. " Kira introduced herself grimly. She's still feels uncomfortable being within two metres of the man who scared her half to death.

Soujiro hesitated when introducing himself. He wasn't sure if he should give his real name or make up one. "Boku wa…Seta Soujiro desu." (I remember someone telling me Soujiro doesn't say 'Watashi wa', so I'm letting that person know that I kept it in mind.)

"Ichida-san, Kitamura-san, Seta-san, I thank you all again for helping me, I apologize if I was a burden to you." Hiroshi retorted.

Now that Hiroshi was cleaner, the man looked to be in his late thirties. His dark brown hair was tied in a high ponytail, which gave him the look of a samurai. His face was slightly aging, but still showed signs of what must have once been a handsome face. He wore a plain, gray and worn out kimono and only sandals for footwear.

"If you don't mine me asking, Miyamoto-san, how did you end up the way we found you?" Soujiro asked politely, but curiously.

Hiroshi face suddenly grew slightly depressing, as he began to explain his tale.

"I was on an error to send a message to my boss, so I decide to travel by the river. But the message is important and secret, and my boss has many enemies. So I was attacked on my boat and as it was, the waters there grew rough and my boat capsized. I was washed away by the river and I guess that's how I ended up the way you found me." Soujiro noticed that Hiroshi was very careful of his words, trying not to say too much.

"Well, the message really doesn't concern us, but as long as you're not hurt, that's what matters." Ryuji stated, he too seems to notice Hiroshi's lack of information.

Kira hesitated when speaking to Hiroshi, which Soujiro found unusual, he guessed that it was because she is still scared of the man. "Ano…you had a katana on you, which I noticed was well made. The tsuba had a very distinctive design as well. Do you know who made it?" Kira shyly held up Hiroshi's katana and threw it back to its owner, who caught it with ease. The katana had a black saya and was tied with a red sageo.

Hiroshi smiled with amusement. "I see; you can spot the beauties of a katana. Well, to be honest, I don't really know who made this katana; I was given this by my boss ever since I started working for him."

"Oh, I see." Kira replied.

* * *

The next day… 

"Arigato, for helping me yesterday, I really appreciated it." Hiroshi said in gratitude. Despite the attack on his boat, Hiroshi decided that he would still try to complete the error.

"That's ok, we were happy to help." Soujiro smile pleasantly.

"So where are you going?" Ryuji asked coolly.

"Oh, I'm going to Tokyo to deliver the message."

"I hope you have a safer trip this time." Soujiro exclaimed, "It's important to watch yourself on the road."

"Hai, I thank you for your concern. I best be going now." Hiroshi did one last bow before turning to walk away. Soujiro, Kira and Ryuji watched him go until he was out of their range of sight.

"Well, I think we best be going too." Kira exclaimed excitedly, jumping a head of the group. "I want to get to Nagoya as quickly as possible, so that means…" Kira suddenly pulled out a map of the country, "…that we'll go on the road that will take us straight to Nagoya!"

Ryuji raised an eyebrow. "One minute you're all quiet and the next you're all jumpy. Do you really not like Hiroshi?"

"No, I don't. I still think he's scary."

"Pity and I was beginning to enjoy the silence."

Kira's eye began to twitch and a vain popped. But as calmly as her anger allowed her, she said, "Well, too bad, get use to the noise. Cause you'll be hearing it for awhile."

Soujiro sweat dropped. "Maa maa, Kira-dono. Shouldn't we be headed to Nagoya now?"

Kira smiled at him and began to run. "Well, of course Soujiro. So let's go!"

**Translations:**  
Ohayau gozaimasu – Good morning

Tsuba – the guard near the sword handle

Saya – the scabbard or the sheath

Sageo – the cord that is tied around the saya

* * *

A/N: So there is chapter 5, I'm sorry again for the long wait. Anyway, please review to tell me what you think. 

I was quite disappointed with the amount of reviews I got for my last chapter. I was kind of expecting more, since I quite like that chapter. I thank Mina and Lulupapa for reviewing my last chapter because you two deserved it.

**Please R&R. Please do it for the sake of my inspiration. Please do it for the sake of this story!**


	6. Home Coming

A/N: Hello everyone! I am back! And with chapter 6 too! So please read and enjoy. Don't forget to review as well!

Declaimer: No, I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, and if anyone has noticed, I don't own the game Ronin Blade either.

* * *

**Rurouni Soujiro** – starring Seta Soujiro 

Chapter 6: _Home Coming: Who are the Karasuhebi?_

By Evee-chan

_Italic words_ meant someone's thinking

It was still early in the morning, so the cool air from last night still lingered in the atmosphere. However, the cool air didn't quite bother the old man as it was in his daily routine to be up so early for his morning yoga.

Sitting in the middle of his room, Kisho breathed in the cool air before sipping his hot tea. Kisho was always the first to wake up in the Sakura Numa. He would start his day with a hot cup of tea, then an hour of meditation and finally his morning yoga. It was important for the old man to be in touch with inner peace, or that's what he tells everyone who questions him.

Though, Kisho may look like your average grandpa, he has a very strong mental state of mind. He is always aware of everything around him and can sense the ki of everything in his surroundings.

The sound of wind chimes could be heard as a gust of wind swept by. Kisho looked up from his tea and beyond the open window in front of him. The window gave the old man a wonderful view of Nagoya and the mountains behind it. He felt a shift of the wind and sensed a spark of familiar ki a long distance away.

Kisho smiled, perhaps a smile of relief. "The birds have finally moved to the North."

* * *

"Come on, you two. Hurry up!" Kira yelled, she was already five meters ahead of her two companions. "We're almost there! I would like to get back before sun down, if you would please!" 

"It's still early, there's no need to rush!" Ryuji yelled back.

After three days of walking, the trio has finally arrived near the outskirt of Nagoya. During that time, Kira had been remarkably quiet, concentrating only on getting to Nagoya as fast as possible. However, today was different. The cat girl had been a bolt of energy since the moment she woke up this morning, claiming that they were very close to Nagoya. And right she was, because they could now see civilization just ahead of them.

"I can't wait, you guys! When we get back, I'm going to take a LONG bath and treat you guys to a BIG meal and..." both Soujiro and Ryuji tuned her out as she chatted on and on about what she was going to do.

"There goes her perky self again." Ryuji muttered distastefully.

Soujiro giggled. "Kira-dono is more alive when she's like that."

Ryuji raised an eyebrow, before shaking his head. "Only you would say that."

It wasn't long before the three friends found themselves in front of the Sakura Numa, courtesy to the energetic cat girl for having them rush, and it was just the beginning of noon. But now that they have finally arrived at their destination, Kira was practically bouncing. It stunned the boys to see her with so much energy; Soujiro almost thought it was hilarious.

Inside the Sakura Numa, the workers were oblivious until they heard a knock on the back door. Sachi was the one who opened the door and was greeted with Kira and her hyper form.

"I'm back, Sachi!" Kira waved.

"Oh my gosh, KIRA, YOU'RE BACK!!!" Sachi ran giving Kira a big hug. That had alerted the whole Sakura Numa and the others came rushing out to greet their fellow colleague and loveable Kira.

"Kira-chan, welcome back!" Kado, the tall, slim ninja greeted warmly, ruffling her hair.

"What a surprise, you are back earlier than usual, Kira." Seiko, Sachi's twin, commented while giving her a backbreaking hug.

"She's defiantly has made it back quickly, she's only been gone for about a week." Hideaki, the muscular ninja, agreed. He patted Kira on the shoulder.

"YAY! YAY! YAY!!! KIRA'S BACK!! KIRA'S BACK!!" Kirei, Kira's cousin, sang loudly, dancing around like a little bunny.

Soujiro had to giggle at the sight. He had a feeling that Kira's warm welcome was getting a little too warm. Though Soujiro couldn't help but notice that there was one person missing in this scene and briefly wondered where the old man, Kisho was.

Ryuji, on the other hand, was staring at the scene like everyone had gone insane. He wasn't used to seeing such warm welcomes and never thought that such welcome was…normal. Then again, he was never really surrounded by people he would classify as normal.

Seiko looked up and noticed the two boys standing a few meters away. She had instantly recognized the blue-clad rurouni, but the man beside him was new.

"Hey, Kira, you seem to like bringing back boys home. Are you doing something naughty?" she asked suspiciously.

Kira immediately blushed at the question. "W-what? Of course not! You know me better then that!"

"Well, then." Sachi said, giggling. "Tell us which one you fancy more, the cute one or the hunky one."

Kira blushed even harder. "Sachi! Not you too! And for your information, they're both just friends, nothing else."

"Sure…" The twins retorted before giggling together.

"Anyways guys, this is Ichida Ryuji." Kira introduced him to her colleague.

"Hey." The bounty hunter greeted in a slightly awkward manner.

"And Ryuji, this is the Sakura Numa, my family and who are also a group of great ninjas."

* * *

While Kira went to find Kisho, both Soujiro and Ryuji were left in the restaurant. It was awkward at first, but the ninjas seem to appear less tense than the last time Soujiro saw them, and they were nicer too. The former Tenken guessed it was because Kira is now safely home. Despite his smile, Soujiro felt a little pang of sadness in him. Jealousy? Now there was an emotion that he hadn't feel it a while. It seems to him that Kira is a very important person to the Sakura Numa, where as, before Soujiro killed his foster family; he was considered the lowest of all creatures. 

Soujiro was broken out of his thought when he heard Ryuji address him. "W-what did you say, Ryuji-san?"

Ryuji raised an eyebrow. "You suddenly spaced out, didn't you?"

Soujiro grin sheepishly. "Gomen Ryuji-san, I was thinking about something."

Ryuji signed. "Anyway, don't you think these people are weird?"

"My, aren't you the pessimistic type." Soujiro commented with a grin.

"Everyone is too happy for my taste. Gosh, even you always seem happy. Crap! I'm surrounded by happy freaks!"

The rurouni laughed, it was his first genuine laugh too.

Kirei suddenly came up to their table with tea. "Here you are. I hope you enjoy our famous green tea, made especially by me." She said with a winning smile.

"Arigato, Kirei-chan." Soujiro thanked the little girl. He poured some tea for Ryuji and himself.

The girl looked around secretly before sitting down with them; she had a very mischievous grin on her face.

"So, why are you guys with Kira? You two like her or something?"

Both Soujiro and Ryuji spat out their tea, literally.

"Actually, it was Kira-dono who asked us to accompany her." Soujiro said, only managing to recover. "She wanted us to help her find her lost swords."

"Asked? It was more like she -forced- us to come with her!" Ryuji said after a coughing fit.

Kirei raised an eyebrow, before smirking. "Don't think that just because I'm cute and act innocent that I don't know what you grown ups talk about. I may be 14, but I'm not dense."

"Huh?" Both were stunned.

Kirei lead towards them. "Listen you two, do you know about Kira's 'condition'?"

"What 'condition'?" the two men asked in unison.

"Well since you don't know, I'll tell you. Before Kira lived here, she lived with her family on her father's side. I'm sure you two would know by now that she is the daughter of Kitamura Kishiro, a famous sword smith. About ten years ago, the Kitamura estate in Tokyo when up in flames, Kira was the only one who survived.

Kisho-san took her in after that, but she didn't eat at all on the first week. The doctor said that she has a very low self-esteem; it was probably from the shock of losing so much. The others had to resolve in forcing her to eat. It took a month for her to start smiling again. Even now, she still hasn't gotten over it, that's why Kisho-san gives her missions so she doesn't think about it so much."

Kirei glared at them. "We all know she's a strong person, but if she doesn't feel loved, she can't go on. So I'm telling you guys, be nice to her, especially since she trusts you now."

Ryuji raised an eyebrow. "Is that why you guys went crazy when you saw her back?"

"Half of it was and the other half was because that's how we are." Kirei smiled.

"For a 14 year old, you are very smart." Soujiro remarked with a smile.

"Of course! In fact, I'm a very observant person too. I can tell what a person is like just by looking at them." Kirei said with her head held high.

"Oh yeah, let's see you try kid." Ryuji rose up a challenge; he wanted to see just how good these ninja's are.

"You're on!" Kirei then looked Ryuji up and down; her eyes were full of concentration. She soon reached to a conclusion and nodded her head.

"You are a quiet person who likes to keep to himself. You like to act cool and coldhearted around people, but really you have a soft side that you show very rarely. Am I right?"

Ryuji stared at her dumbfound, but soon recovered himself and looked away. "Lucky guess."

Soujiro giggled at Ryuji (he has been doing that a lot), but soon stopped when Kirei gave him the same look and nod.

"You are one of those people who always look happy, but inside you're not really the happy person you show. Maybe because of something that happened in the past, you don't want to let people see the real you and that's why you hide behind a happy face."

Something clicked inside Soujiro's head. He was silent and his expression was emotionless. He wasn't sure what it was but somehow he felt…relieved? Maybe it was the way Kirei figured him out or maybe it was how she said it with no means to hurt him. He didn't know which, but it felt nice to have someone accept and understand him that way.

Soujiro's smile was genuine. "You're very good, Kirei-chan."

The girl blushed slightly before giving him a big grin.

"Kirei, can you help me here please!"

Kirei look at the direction of the voice with a smile. "Hai, I'm coming Sachi!" Then she bounced off to the kitchen, leaving the two alone.

Silence lingered between them before Ryuji broke it.

"See what I mean! Freaks."

* * *

Kira was back not long after Kirei was gone. She had a piece of paper in hand and was very excited. 

"Guys, tomorrow we'll be going to Yokohama to find our next sword!" Kira explained excitedly.

"Oh really? What's the next sword called?" Ryuji asked.

"The next sword we are going to look for is the Raimei. It's a ninja sword and was oka's favourite. My otou made it just for her." Kira said. She sounded so happy, but Soujiro could detect some sadness in her ki. After what Kirei told them, it made sense that Kira would feel sad talking about her family.

The ninja continued, "It is currently in Yokohama and owned by Koga Mamoru. Kisho-san said that in three weeks time, he would sell the Raimei overseas, so we have to get it before he sells it."

Both Soujiro and Ryuji nodded.

"Oh and Kisho-san wants to see you two."

Kira lead them into the same room that Soujiro first landed eyes on the old man. Both he and Ryuji sat in front of the old man as he sipped his tea, while Kira sat herself next to him.

Kisho looked up from his tea and smiled. "It's nice to see you again; Soujiro-kun and this must be Ryuji-kun, am I right?"

"Ichida Ryuji." Ryuji bowed. "And you must be Kira's ojii-san."

"Matsuzaki Kisho at your service." Kisho bowed also. "Kira-chan has told me all about you two. I am grateful to heard that you are assisting Kira on her missions, arigato."

"It's no problem really, we are happy to help." Soujiro said, he was scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

Ryuji rolled his eyes. _He's happy, but who ever said I was._ Kira noticed this and glared at him.

"However, I must say, I was surprised to hear that you were the Tenken, I never would had guessed it would be you." Kisho said.

Soujiro's smile went grim. "Ano, I guess Kira-dono told you about that." His eyes shifted to Kira for a moment before returning to the old man.

Kisho nodded. "Hai, but there's no need to feel ashamed Soujiro-kun. If Kira-chan trusts you then so do the rest of us."

"Demo…"

Kisho held up his hand for silence. "Flowers that hides can never show its true beauty now, can it?"

Soujiro had a blank face. "I…guess not."

Kisho nodded and turned to Ryuji. "Ryuji-kun, Kira-chan tells me you are a bounty hunter, are you not?"

Ryuji blinked. "…hai."

Kisho nodded again, a hand stroked his long white beard. "I believe you two are the right people for this long mission. I sense nothing dark from you."

Suddenly, Kisho's serious expression changed into a merry face. "So how about it, one of you can hook up with Kira-chan and become her spouse! Hahahahaha!!!" The old man made the 'peace' sign and burst into laughter.

Both Soujiro and Ryuji face faulted with huge sweat drops on their heads. Kira also blushed ten fold and gave her ojii-san a large bump on the head.

"Kisho-san!! That wasn't what you called them here to talk about!!!"

"Just lightening up the mood, Kira-chan!"

"Just get on with it you old geezer!" Kira looked away; her face was hot with embarrassment.

Soujiro was noticeably blushing.

Ryuji's eye was twitching. _Idiots!_

Kisho coughed before becoming serious again. "Ok, the real reason I called you here was about the Raimei, about the person who currently owns it. Kira-chan, you may do the honors."

Kira nodded and straightened herself. "Do you guys remember Miyamoto Hiroshi?"

Ryuji blinked. "Yeah, that guy you keep freaking out about, what's he got to do with this?"

Kira ignored his first comment." Well, apparently he works for Koga Mamoru. Remember how I was looking at his sword? The tsuba had a very distinctive design, that design is the symbol of a certain group of people called the Karasuhebi. The same group that set fire to my home in Tokyo…ten years ago."

Both Soujiro and Ryuji looked up in surprise.

"So, you mean we helped one of the people who helped kill your late family?" Ryuji asked in disbelief.

"I guess that is why you acted so cautious around him. I would have never guessed." Soujiro said a little ashamed that he didn't pick it up before.

Kira shook her head. "Only five people had been there during the fire, Kisho-san did some research on who they were and none of them went by the name of Miyamoto Hiroshi. So he is innocent. However, Koga Mamoru had been there during the fire."

"Who exactly is Koga Mamoru and who are the Karasuhebi?" Soujiro asked curiously.

Kisho answered this time. "The Karasuhebi was a group of rebels against the shogun during the Boshin War. They weren't really well known then. But now, they are a large Yakuza organization who deals with drugs and weapons.

We have been watching them as long as Kira has been with us and we found out that the Karasuhebi are lead by five leaders, the same five people who were involved in the fire." Kisho glanced at Kira for a moment before continuing.

"There is how the Karasuhebi operates, the yakuza is divided into four groups and each group is located in a different area in Japan. Koga Mamoru is head of the east section in Tokyo. The west section is located in Kyoto and is lead by Takahiro Isamu. The south section is in Hamamatsu and lead by Ryouta Masami. Finally the north section, located in Toyama, lead by Masuyo Jiro."

There was silence after Kisho had finished. Everyone was slowly taking in everything that was said.

"Wow that must be one heck of a yakuza." Ryuji commented while crossing his arms.

Kira nodded. "But I don't care about what they do; I just want to get back what they took from my father. They have no right to claim them when they don't belong to them in the first place."

"Wait." Soujiro said suddenly. "What about the last leader? The fifth leader?"

Both Kira and Ryuji blinked before turning to Kisho.

The old man looked slightly nervous. "Tsukino Takeshi, he is supposedly the fifth leader, but we are unsure of that fact. He doesn't really play part in the whole drug and weapons deal, but he's still a leader all the same. Rumors say that he was a hitokiri before the Revolution."

Then Kisho smile. "Now that you know all that, I think you should be fine on this mission. Now, you are dismissed."

* * *

After the trio had come out of the meditation room, Kira had quickly pulled both boys out into a small garden that they haven't noticed before. It had been hidden from public view, so nobody except the Sakura Numa knew it existed. 

"OK you two," Kira announced, with a serious look. "I'll have you know that this mission is going to be a long one."

Soujiro tilted his head with curiosity. "Why is that, Kira-dono?"

"Because," Kira replied. "Kisho-san has finally located the last three most powerful swords my father has ever made. The Raimei and two others great swords and all of them are owned by leaders of the Karasuhebi. Being such a large yakuza, it's going to be difficult to get a hold of them."

"So why are you telling us this?" Ryuji asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kira's eyes turned downcast, not looking at them in the eye. "Um, because I want to ask you guys if you really want to get involved with this. I mean, we'll be dealing with dangerous people here and I know I kind of forced you into it without telling you the consequences. So, if you want to back out now, I won't stop you. After all, it's my fault you're here anywa-"

Kira was startled when she felt a hand placed on top of her head; she looked up to find the hand belonged to none other then the bounty hunter. If anyone else had been watching it would have looked like a brother patting he's little sister.

Ryuji's face was emotionless which unnerved her but it was his soft brown eyes that betray any feelings he was trying to hide.

_We all know she's a strong person, but if she doesn't feel loved, she can't go on. So I'm telling you guys, be nice to her, especially since she trusts you now._

Ryuji signed. "You don't have to do things on your own, you know. Now knowing how dangerous this could be, I can't just leave you alone anymore."

"Ryuji-san is right, Kira-dono. We don't mind helping you and Kisho-san entrusted us with you too. We can't back out even if we want to." Soujiro smiled reassuringly.

"Demo…" Kira tried to protest but was cut short.

"You don't have to worry about us, Smiley boy and I are pretty good fighters. We'll be fine." Ryuji lifted his hand off the ninja's head and began to walk away.

Both Soujiro and Kira watched him go, there was silence before the rurouni chuckled. "We have just witnessed the soft side of the lion."

"I heard that, Smiley boy!"

Soujiro chuckled harder, causing Kira to smile too and pretty soon both we're laughing together.

After they had calmed down, Kira was smiling brightly. "Thanks Soujiro."

Soujiro smiled sweetly. "That's alright, Kira-dono. No matter what happens after tomorrow, Ryuji-san and I will protect you."

Kira blushed slightly from both his words and smile. He really looked cute that way.

Soujiro held out his hand. "Shell we go inside now?"

Kira nodded and took his hand. Both worked together and entered the building.

* * *

Two figures watched as Soujiro and Kira walked into the building. They have been there for awhile now and had seen everything that happened. The two figures giggled together. 

"It's evident; she is so falling for the cute one." One of the figures said.

"Oh, our little Kira is growing up so fast." The other figure said.

"You know, the hunky boy isn't so bad himself."

There was silence between them before the two figures giggled again. Both of them stepped out of the shadows, still giggling, to show that the two figures were none other than Seiko and Sachi.

**Translations:**

Raimei – Thunder

Oka - mother

Otou - father

Ojii-san – grandfather

Demo – but

Karasuhebi – Black Snake

Yakuza – Japanese mafia

Hitokiri – manslayer

* * *

A/N: So there you have it, chapter 6. I have thought long and hard and I realized it's going to be a long story, so I am asking you readers if this story is worth continuing. I'm going to go by what everyone tells me, so please leave a review and tell me if I should keep going or that I'm just wasting my time.

Oh, and thank you to all the people who have reviewed, you all get a big huge and a cookie!


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